Anwar Gargash, Diplomatic Advisor to the President of the United Arab Emirates, speaks during a joint press conference with Cypriot Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias and Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi in Paphos, Cyprus, April 16, 2021. Iakovos Hatzistavrou/Pool via REUTERS Acquire license rights
ABU DHABI, Nov 4 (Reuters) – The United States must push for a quick end to the war between Israel and Hamas and establish a new process to resolve the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian problem, or else Washington will be considered ineffective, the diplomatic adviser said. » to the president of the United Arab Emirates, said on Saturday.
Anwar Gargash also said Israel’s response to the October 7 attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas was “disproportionate,” as Israel’s two-decade policy of containment of the Palestinian issue failed.
from Israel bombing of the Gaza Strip has angered Arab states, concerned by the sharp increase in civilian casualties and by the Israeli blockade of the Palestinian coastal enclave which has limited access to humanitarian aid.
“The American involvement will be visible when we end this war, the sooner the better, and if we can have another…, some sort of problem-solving process,” Gargash said during a political conference in the capital of the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi.
“If this crisis continues, particularly on the humanitarian level, and if this crisis brings us back full circle, to the old policy of containment before October 7, I think that the American role here… will not be seen. also effective,” he added.
A Gulf Arab power, the United Arab Emirates, one of the United States’ closest partners in the Middle East and home to American forces, has pursued a more independent and assertive foreign policy over the past decade.
It is the most important Arab state to sign the 2020 Abraham Accords, a Washington-brokered pact to establish diplomatic relations with Israel that broke with decades of pan-Arab policy that called for a Palestinian state before the standardization.
“HUMANITARIAN CEASEFIRE”
Gargash, one of the UAE’s most prominent foreign policy thinkers, also called for a return to an approach to the Israeli-Palestinian issue that takes into account refugees, borders and East Jerusalem.
The war between Israel and Hamas began when the group’s militants crossed the border on October 7 and went on a rampage attacking Israeli communities.
Israel claims to have killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and taken more than 200 hostages. The subsequent Israeli bombardment of the small, densely populated Palestinian enclave of 2.3 million people killed at least 9,488 people, including 3,900 children, according to Gaza health authorities.
The United Arab Emirates, concerned that the war could degenerate into a wider regional conflicthas been pushing for a humanitarian ceasefire, which Gargash said he hoped would be more realistic than a complete ceasefire – rejected by Israel and its allies – and that he would not be vetoed by “any of the participants”.
Gargash said anything that would not expand the conflict was a positive development, referring to Friday’s speech by Sayyed Hassan Nasrallahthe leader of Lebanese Hezbollah supported by Iran.
(This story has been refiled to add a deleted word in paragraph 6)
Reporting by Alexander Cornwell; edited by Alexandra Hudson and Emelia Sithole-Matarise
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