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Egypt has been instrumental in a recent Israel-Palestine ceasefire in the region
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The UAE has said the “Abraham Accords” would benefit the Palestinians
Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan was quoted by state media as saying on Sunday that the United Arab Emirates is ready to facilitate peace efforts between Israel and the Palestinians.
The de-facto ruler of the country reportedly made these remarks to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi over a phone call.
Egypt is the country that, with US support, brokered a ceasefire on Friday that ended the fiercest fighting in years between Israel and Islamist militant group Hamas.
The UAE, which last year normalized ties with Israel, “is ready to work with all parties to maintain the ceasefire and explore new paths to reduce escalation and achieve peace”, Sheikh Mohammed was quoted as saying.
He, however, stressed the need for “additional efforts, especially by Israeli and Palestinian leaders”.
Last year’s normalization deals signed by the UAE and Bahrain, followed by Sudan and Morocco, were denounced by the Palestinians as abandoning a unified position under which Arab states would make peace only under a two-state solution, negotiations for which have been deadlocked for years.
The UAE, which distrusts political Islamist groups like Hamas, has said the “Abraham Accords” would ultimately benefit the Palestinians.
UAE ambassador to Washington Yousef al-Otaiba said last month that the establishment of formal channels under the accords would allow the Gulf state to play a similar diplomatic role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to Egypt and Jordan, which have peace deals with Israel.
Egypt and Qatar, which has ties with Hamas, led regional efforts for the ceasefire that ended 11 days of fighting in which aerial bombardment of Gaza killed 232 Palestinians and rocket attacks killed 12 people in Israel.