UAE Does Not Refuse Support for Creation of Independent Palestine, Foreign Ministry Says

DUBAI (Sputnik) - The United Arab Emirates is not against support for the creation of an independent Palestinian state with the capital in East Jerusalem, despite normalization of relations with Israel, UAE Foreign Minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed said.

"The UAE stance is firm and settled in regard to support of the unchanging Arab stance on the creation of an independent Palestinian state with the capital in East Jerusalem", bin Zayed said in a video address to Palestinians.

The minister stressed that the UAE's decision to normalize relations with Israel was a strategic and necessary choice that was not going to undermine the rights of the Palestinian people.

On Monday, the very first direct passenger flight from Israel to the UAE took the high-level US and Israeli delegations from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi through Saudi airspace. The Israeli delegation is led by the National Security Council head, Meir Ben Shabbat. The US delegation is headed by Senior Presidential Advisor Jared Kushner and National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien.

The visit is expected to last for two days. The agenda includes high-level meetings on cooperation in various fields ahead of signing a historic peace deal between the two countries.

Previously, the UAE and Israel announced that they had agreed to normalize bilateral relations and establish diplomatic ties as part of a deal brokered by the United States. The UAE is set to become the third Arab country to fully recognize Israel after Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994.

In mid-August, UAE Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation for Cultural Affairs Omar Saif Ghobash said that UAE believed that Israel was not going to proceed with its West Bank annexation plans after suspending them as part of the historic bilateral peace deal with the UAE.