UAE keen to lead efforts to defuse Mideast crisis
DUBAI/GAZA CITY: The UAE stands ready to facilitate peace efforts between Israel and the Palestinians, the country’s state news agency reported on Sunday, citing Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed Al-Nayhan.
Sheikh Mohamed’s comments came in a call with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, expressing support for Egypt’s efforts to bolster a ceasefire agreed by Israel and the Palestinians after 11 days of fighting.
The UAE, which last year signed an agreement to normalise relations with Israel, “is ready to work with all parties to preserve the ceasefire and find new ways to reduce escalation and achieve peace”, the news agency quoted Sheikh as saying.
On Saturday, hundreds of Hamas fighters wearing military camouflage paraded past the mourning tent for Bassem Issa, a senior commander killed in the fighting. The top Hamas leader in Gaza, Yehiyeh Sinwar, paid his respects in his first public appearance since the war began.
Israel bombed the house of Sinwar, along with that of other Hamas figures, as part of its attack on what it said was the group’s military infrastructure. Israel’s defence minister, Benny Gantz, has said Israel delivered a punishing blow to Hamas.
Amid the death and destruction, there is widespread expectation that the ceasefire would hold for now, even though another round or two of fighting seems inevitable given the fragility of relations between the two warring factions.
On Friday, hours after the ceasefire took effect, thousands of Palestinians in the Al-Aqsa compound chanted against Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his self-rule government.
It was an unprecedented display of anger against Abbas. The conflict also brought to the surface deep frustration among Palestinians, whether in the occupied West Bank, Gaza or within Israel, over the status quo, with the Israeli-Palestinian peace process all but abandoned for years.
Despite his weakened status, Abbas will be the point of contact for any renewed US diplomacy, since Israel and the West, including the United States, consider Hamas a terrorist organization.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken is to meet with Abbas and Israeli leaders when he visits this week.
Abbas is expected to raise demands that any Gaza reconstruction plans go through the Palestinian Authority to avoid strengthening Hamas.
Abbas met on Saturday with Egyptian mediators, discussing the rebuilding of Gaza and internal Palestinian relations, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.