The United Arab Emirates is urging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept US President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan and to abandon any move to annex the West Bank, a delegate familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday. The UAE, which normalised ties with Israel under the Abraham Accords, warned Netanyahu that annexation would block Israel’s chances of further normalisation with major Arab and Muslim states, including Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, the delegate said. Netanyahu is under pressure from far-right politicians in Israel to extend sovereignty over the West Bank, which Palestinians want as part of a future state. A senior Israeli official has said Netanyahu will give Israel’s response to Trump’s plan when he meets the President at the White House later on Monday. UAE backs Trump’s Gaza framework According to the delegate, UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed told Netanyahu during a meeting in New York on Friday that the Emirates support the US plan. Sheikh Abdullah described it as offering benefits to all sides and urged Netanyahu to “engage seriously with the Trump administration” to move it forward. Trump met several Arab and Muslim leaders last week on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York to promote his 21-point framework aimed at ending the nearly two-year Gaza war and securing the release of hostages. On Sunday, Trump told Reuters he hoped Netanyahu would agree to the framework at their meeting. The White House said on Monday that Israel and Hamas are “very close” to a framework deal. Arab states stress two-state solution Abdulaziz al-Sager, head of the Saudi-based Gulf Research Center, said Saudi Arabia welcomed Trump’s assurances of “no forced deportation from Gaza” and “no annexation of the West Bank.” He said Riyadh has made clear it will not normalise relations with Israel without progress toward a two-state solution. According to the delegate, Arab and Muslim states persuaded Trump at their meetings that annexation was not acceptable, prompting the US president to distance himself from the idea. The message to Netanyahu was that Israel could only gain “the benefits of being a normal country” in the region if it avoided undermining the process. Details of Trump’s framework Three regional sources told Reuters the US plan represents a shift from Trump’s earlier stance. Unlike earlier proposals to relocate Gaza’s population, the new framework encourages Palestinians to stay in the territory and lays out a conditional path toward statehood. The plan includes Hamas disarming, Gaza being demilitarised, and a reformed Palestinian Authority eventually governing the territory. It also proposes a transitional technocratic government, a temporary stabilisation force to train a new Palestinian police, and a gradual Israeli withdrawal from occupied areas. A US-led body would oversee reconstruction. Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 66,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities in the enclave. The war began after Hamas-led fighters attacked Israel in October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, Israeli figures show. Netanyahu says 48 hostages remain in Gaza, including 20 who are alive.
