“Behind the fanfare surrounding the historic visit of Israeli and American delegations to the United Arab Emirates earlier this week, there are still challenges ahead for Israel-UAE normalization.
Even though the opening of formal ties between Israel and Abu Dhabi was ostensibly predicated on Israel giving up on West Bank annexation, the most sensitive issue to emerge from the agreement is not the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The UAE has been content to merely see West Bank annexation “suspended,” while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made a point from the get-go of reminding everyone that annexation remains on the table, and that anyone who says otherwise, including his own foreign minister, is not in the know.“
