On September 3, 2025, a diplomatic tremor shook the Middle East as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) issued a stark warning to Israel: any move to annex the occupied West Bank would cross a "red line" and threaten the very foundation of the Abraham Accords, the landmark agreements that normalized relations between Israel and several Arab states. The message, delivered by senior Emirati official Lana Nusseibeh and echoed through multiple international media outlets, underscored the mounting tensions as Israel’s far-right government advanced controversial plans for sweeping annexation.
According to BBC, Lana Nusseibeh, the UAE foreign ministry's assistant minister for political affairs, did not mince words: "Annexation in the West Bank would constitute a red line for the UAE. It would severely undermine the vision and spirit of [the] Accords, end the pursuit of regional integration and would alter the widely shared consensus on what the trajectory of this conflict should be – two states living side by side in peace, prosperity and security." Nusseibeh further stated, "Annexation would be a red line for my government, and that means there can be no lasting peace. It would foreclose the idea of regional integration and be the death knell of the two-state solution," as reported by The Times of Israel and Anadolu.
The UAE’s warning came hours after Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a prominent figure in the country’s far-right Religious Zionism Party, unveiled a proposal to annex approximately 82% of the West Bank. Smotrich, who wields substantial influence over West Bank planning, declared at a Jerusalem press conference, "The time has come" for annexation. He presented a map outlining a plan for "applying Israeli sovereignty" to the vast majority of the territory, leaving only isolated enclaves around six Palestinian cities: Jenin, Tulkarm, Nablus, Ramallah, Jericho, and Hebron. The rest, including Bethlehem and many other Palestinian towns, would not be included, while East Jerusalem – annexed by Israel in 1980 in a move not recognized internationally – was already considered part of Israel’s capital.
Smotrich justified the move as a "preventative step" against mounting international recognition of a Palestinian state. In recent weeks, several countries, including France, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway, Spain, Belgium, Canada, and Australia, announced plans to formally recognize Palestinian statehood during the United Nations General Assembly meetings scheduled for September 8-23, 2025. Smotrich argued that annexation was necessary to "put off the table" the idea of dividing the land and establishing what he termed "a terrorist state at its centre." He insisted that Palestinians would "continue to manage their own lives, in the immediate future in the same way that this is done today through the Palestinian Authority, and later through regional civilian management alternatives."
The Palestinian Authority (PA), which governs parts of the West Bank not under full Israeli control, swiftly condemned Smotrich’s proposal, calling it a "direct threat" to any hope of a future Palestinian state. The PA’s foreign ministry welcomed the UAE’s strong stance, seeing it as crucial support in the face of what it views as existential peril.
The stakes are high. The 2020 Abraham Accords, brokered by the United States and celebrated as a watershed in Arab-Israeli relations, saw the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco establish full diplomatic ties with Israel. For Abu Dhabi, a key condition for signing was the suspension of annexation plans by then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Although Netanyahu agreed to "suspend" those plans, he made clear they remained "on the table." Now, with a right-wing and pro-settler coalition in power, the debate over annexation has reignited, fueled by both domestic pressures and the international community’s shifting stance on Palestinian statehood.
According to Axios, a senior Emirati official warned that "these plans, if carried out, will do substantial damage to the UAE-Israel relationship. And they will irreparably damage whatever remains of the vision of regional integration. In many ways, the choice before Israel right now is annexation or integration." Nusseibeh echoed this sentiment, emphasizing, "For every Arab capital you talk to, the idea of regional integration is still a possibility, but annexation to satisfy some of the radical extremist elements in Israel is going to take that off the table."
The UAE’s warning was not just directed at Israel. Abu Dhabi reportedly reached out to former U.S. President Donald Trump, who played a pivotal role in brokering the Abraham Accords, urging him to use his influence to prevent annexation. Trump, who blocked similar moves twice during his first term, has been more ambiguous in his current stance. The Emiratis’ direct appeals to Washington, D.C. highlight the geopolitical stakes: "Trump held the keys to the situation, controlling many of the ‘levers’ needed to lead the way for Israel’s integration into the region," Nusseibeh noted.
International law and opinion have not been kind to Israel’s settlement policy. Since occupying the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East war, Israel has constructed around 160 settlements, now home to approximately 700,000 Israeli Jews. These settlements, scattered among an estimated 3.3 million Palestinians, are considered illegal under international law by the United Nations and the vast majority of the global community. In July 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an advisory opinion declaring Israel’s "continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is unlawful" and calling for "the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem." Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu dismissed the ICJ’s findings as a "decision of lies."
Adding fuel to the fire, in August 2025, Israel approved a major new settlement project in the E1 area, a move that would effectively sever the West Bank from East Jerusalem and split Palestinian territories in two. This decision drew international outrage and renewed warnings from the United Nations and human rights organizations, who argue that continued settlement expansion undermines the viability of any two-state solution. Several rights groups have gone further, concluding that Israel’s policies in the West Bank amount to an apartheid system—a characterization the Israeli government vehemently rejects.
Yehuda Shaul, of the Ofek Centre think tank, was blunt in his assessment, comparing Smotrich’s annexation map to infamous 20th-century regimes: "Reminds me of another map in a different continent, from the 20th Century. There is a word in Afrikaans to describe that regime." The parallels drawn underscore the gravity with which many in the region and beyond view the current trajectory.
As the international community braces for further developments, the UAE’s warning stands as both a diplomatic shot across the bow and a plea for restraint. The Abraham Accords, once heralded as a new dawn for regional cooperation, now hang in the balance, threatened by the very actions they were designed to forestall. With global powers weighing in, and the specter of further escalation looming, the path forward for Israel, Palestine, and their neighbors remains fraught with uncertainty—and the world is watching closely.