The meeting between UAE President Sheikh Mohamed and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh was marked by harmony regarding regional issues, a senior Emirati official said on Thursday.
The statement by Dr Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the President, came after the UAE warned Israel that annexation of the occupied West Bank would constitute a red line and undermine the vision and spirit of the Abraham Accords.
During the high-level talks in Riyadh on Wednesday, Sheikh Mohamed and Prince Mohammed discussed the situation in Palestine and emphasised the need to forge a path to peace based on the two-state solution, state news agency Wam reported.
“The meeting was marked by harmony in ideas and positions regarding regional issues,” Dr Gargash wrote on X. “The sisterly kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are working together to promote peace and stability in exceptional circumstances, with continuous co-ordination and consultation serving as a fundamental pillar for establishing a shared vision towards a more stable future for the region."
On the same day of the visit, the UAE issued one of the toughest condemnations of Israeli actions in Palestine since the Gaza war started in 2023.
“Annexation of the West Bank would constitute a red line for the UAE,” said Lana Nusseibeh, Assistant Minister for Political Affairs and Envoy of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. “It would severely undermine the vision and spirit of [the Abraham] Accords, end the pursuit of regional integration and would alter the widely shared consensus on what the trajectory of this conflict should be – two states living side by side in peace, prosperity and security.”
Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Wednesday presented a plan to annex the majority of the West Bank, urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “make a historic decision to apply Israeli sovereignty to all open areas” in the territory.
Israel has taken other steps in recent weeks that undermine the prospect of a Palestinian state, in particular approving the construction of E1 – an illegal settlement with thousands of homes near Jerusalem.
“We call on the Israeli government to suspend these plans. Extremists, of any kind, cannot be allowed to dictate the region’s trajectory. Peace requires courage, persistence and a refusal to let violence define our choices,” Ms Nusseibeh said.
Saudi Arabia has said it will not establish relations with Israel unless a Palestinian state is created and the war in Gaza ends.
