Sheikh Mohamed assures Jordanian king of solidarity and rejects Israel's annexation of Palestinian lands

In a phone call, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi said the UAE was working with Arab countries against the illegal move

Palestinian protesters wave flags as Israeli troops take position during a protest against Jewish settlements in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, near Ramallah. Reuters

Now that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has secured a new term in office, there’s little to prevent him from annexing large parts of the West Bank as early as this summer. AP

An Israeli soldier stands guard during a tour made by Israeli parliament members in the Jordan Valley near the Jewish settlement of Maale Efrayim. Reuters

Israeli soldiers take position as Palestinian demonstrators gather during a protest against expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. AP

King Abdullah (r) of Transjordan on May 13, 1948 in Amman with Abed Al Rahman Azzam, the secretary general of the Arab League and Abd Al Elah Ibn Ali, the Prince Regent of Iraq, the day before the beginning of the first Arab-Israeli War. AFP

Palestinians surrender to Israeli soldiers in June 1967 in the occupied territory of the West Bank after Israel launched a pre-emptive attack on Egypt and Syria and seized the Gaza Strip, Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights in Syria as well as the West Bank and Arab East Jerusalem. AFP

A Palestinian child plays in a refugee camp in Jordan on June 23, 1967. AFP

PLO chairman Yasser Arafat delivers a speech to the Palestine National Council meeting to make the historic proclamation of a Palestinian state in the Israeli-occupied territories and to recognize Israel in the Palace of Nations conference hall on November 12, 1988, in Algiers. AFP

US President Bill Clinton stands between PLO leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzahk Rabin as they shake hands for the first time on September 13, 1993 at the White House. AFP

Hussein Ibn Talal, King of Jordan and Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin shake hands after they exchanged the documents of the Peace Treaty at Beit Gabriel conference centre on November 10, 1994 on the southern shore of the Sea of Galilee. AFP

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas speaks during the Palestinian leadership meeting and threatened to end security coordination with Israel and the United States, saying Israeli annexation would ruin chances for peace. AFP

Houses in the Israeli settlement of settlement of Kedumim are seen in the foreground as part of the Palestinian city of Nablus is seen in the background (far left) in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Reuters

Israel's controversial concrete barrier (C) separating the Jewish settlement of Neve Yaakov (foreground) in the northern part of east Jerusalem and the Palestinian area of al-Ram (background) in the occupied West Bank. AFP

An Israeli activist holds a banner during a protest against the US peace plan for the Middle East, in front of the US ambassador's residence in Jerusalem, on May 15, 2020, as Palestinians commemorate the 72nd anniversary of the 1948 Nakba or "catastrophe". AFP

A Palestinian shepherd tends to his camels on arid land considered to be in "Area C" (under Israeli security and administrative control), southeast of Yatta town in the southern West Bank district of Hebron. AFP

A general view of the Israeli settlement of Elon Moreh, as seen from the Palestinian village of Azmout near the West Bank City of Nablus. EPA

The West Bank Jewish settlement of Maale Michmash. AP

The UAE fully supports Jordan and rejects the illegal annexation of Palestinian lands by Israel, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed told the Jordanian King Abdullah on Wednesday.

The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and King Abdullah shared a phone call, where they discussed the Israeli government's planned illegal annexation of Palestinian territories. They said this move breached international resolutions and undermined the prospects of peace in the Middle East.

Sheikh Mohamed said the UAE was working with Arab countries and the international community against this illegal move and its expected fallout.

He also reiterated the UAE's appreciation of Jordan's support for the Palestinian cause, noting the importance of continuing co-ordination between the two countries for the greater good of the two nations' peoples and the Arab nation at large, reported state news agency Wam.

"I assured King Abdullah, in our phone conversation, of the UAE's full solidarity with Jordan and our categorical rejection of accepting Israel's illegal annexation of Palestinian lands. We are working with our Arab brethren and the international community against this illegal move," Sheikh Mohamed said on Twitter.

The pair also discussed the "brotherly" relationship between the UAE and Jordan in addition to an array of regional and international issues of common concern.

On Tuesday, a group of almost 50 UN human rights specialists called Israel’s plan to annex nearly a third of the West Bank amounts to a "vision of a 21st Century apartheid".

They warned that the move would be a “serious violation” of international law and reinforce an "already unjust reality" as well as only intensifying human rights violations against Palestinians.

"What would be left of the West Bank would be a Palestinian Bantustan, islands of disconnected land completely surrounded by Israel and with no territorial connection to the outside world,” the experts said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu aims to begin a process of applying Israeli sovereignty to Jewish settlements in the Jordan Valley and West Bank from July 1.

The US effectively gave its blessing for the move last year in President Trump's Middle East peace plan, which proposes to leave Palestine with the remaining 70 per cent of the West Bank, along with Gaza and part of East Jerusalem as its capital.

The Palestinians, who claim these lands in their entirety, have rejected the terms.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and built dozens of settlements, which are illegal under international law.