Gaza ceasefire is moment of opportunity or peril, UAE's Dr Gargash says

Presidential adviser says UAE has leveraged relations with Israel to ensure billions of dollars in aid entered stricken enclave

The war in Gaza cannot end with a return to the situation that prevailed before the conflict broke out in 2023, a senior UAE official has said.

Dr Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to President Sheikh Mohamed, said the region was at a crossroads, with a ceasefire in the enclave presenting "a moment of opportunity or a moment of peril, depending on what we do".

"We cannot go back to where we were. We need a path to peace," he said at the Reuters Next event in Abu Dhabi. He emphasised that there was a "chance to change course and do things differently".

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"The path to confrontation and war has been catalytic for the Palestinians," Dr Gargash added. "Containment and a reversal to October 6 [2023] will not help anybody. We really need to look at what has happened, and what has happened is an earthquake, and to take it from there."

He told the event that "maximalist views on the Palestinian issue are no longer valid" and that "we have to address the issue that we really have two contending nationalisms fighting for one piece of land, and that land has to be divided".

That crucial moment could also bring peril, said Dr Gargash, if those involved "act as if nothing happened in the last few years", referring to Israel, Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah.

Dr Gargash repeated the UAE's support for a two-state solution as part of an Arab and international vision that "provides Israel with security, but also Palestinians with a viable state", he said.

Pragmatic relations with Israel

He said the UAE played a crucial humanitarian role in Gaza, providing billions of dollars in aid and 100,000 tonnes of food and medical supplies. That assistance would not have been possible if the UAE did not previously establish relations with Israel, he added.

"The aid we provided is not only because the UAE is generous, it's also because the UAE has been able to leverage its relations with Israel to use that access," he said. "If we had no relationship with Israel, we wouldn't have been able to bring 3,000 Palestinians and their families here."

The Abraham Accords, signed in Washington in 2020, also offered leverage over Israel when the UAE took a strong stance against the annexation of the occupied West Bank, calling it a "red line". The accords also helped in the push for Israel to accept the Gaza ceasefire agreement.

Dr Gargash described the accords as an important part of a larger "jigsaw of peace" in the region. "The Abraham Accords are a strategic agreement," he added. "It sends a message in the region. It's helped us operationally, as I said, on the humanitarian side, it's given us leverage on the issue of annexation. I mean, if we did not have the Abraham Accords, what are we going to come and tell Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu and his right-wing government?"

Another piece of the "jigsaw", he added, is the "self-realisation that the path to confrontation has not yielded any results for the Palestinians and has not given Israel the security that it needs".

The focus for the international community now is to make the US-led Gaza plan work, Dr Gargash said. The first phase of the agreement came into effect this month, ending fighting in the enclave and bringing about the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinians detained in Israel. The second phase centres on the disarmament of Hamas and the future governance of Gaza, points of contention that led ceasefire talks to collapse previously.

"The UAE is ready to help in every way to resolve one of the thorniest and most difficult issues in the region," Dr Gargash said. "Its role will depend on what is on the horizon."

He added that the UAE needs clarity on whether the agreement will lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state and will use "all its efforts and capabilities to support that".

"People want to see a long-lasting peace that actually stays and peace that will actually secure Israel, but will also give the Palestinians the national state that they deserve," he said.

Conflict resolution

Lana Nusseibeh, UAE Minister of State, told the forum that allowing conflicts in the region to continue unresolved had been a “strategic mistake” by the international community. She highlighted the disruption to commercial shipping caused by attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels, saying the UAE and Saudi Arabia had long warned of the threat posed by the Iran-backed group.

"I think now we see, 10 years later, what has come to pass as a result of not resolving that conflict," she said.

Non-state actors, as well as political instability, must be dealt with to ensure prosperity for all countries in the region, Ms Nusseibeh added.

She also referred to the Hamas-led attacks on Israel in 2023 and the resulting war on Gaza as further consequences of failing to resolve conflicts. The UAE will continue its diplomatic efforts to find solutions, Ms Nusseibeh added.

Signing the Abraham Accords was about trying to change mindsets in the region and look to the future, she told the forum. The move aimed to present young people with a “new vision of peace, co-existence and tolerance, anchored in economic stability”.