Sheikh Mohamed assures Jordanian king of solidarity and rejects Israel's annexation of Palestinian lands

The UAE fully supports Jordan and rejects the illegal annexation of Palestinian lands by Israel, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed told the Jordanian King Abdullah on Wednesday. The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and King Abdullah shared a phone call, where they discussed the Israeli government's planned illegal annexation of Palestinian territories. They said this move breached international resolutions and undermined the prospects of peace in the Middle East. Sheikh Mohamed said the UAE was working with Arab countries and the international community against this illegal move and its expected fallout. He also reiterated the UAE's appreciation of Jordan's support for the Palestinian cause, noting the importance of continuing co-ordination between the two countries for the greater good of the two nations' peoples and the Arab nation at large, reported state news agency Wam. "I assured King Abdullah, in our phone conversation, of the UAE's full solidarity with Jordan and our categorical rejection of accepting Israel's illegal annexation of Palestinian lands. We are working with our Arab brethren and the international community against this illegal move," Sheikh Mohamed said on Twitter. The pair also discussed the "brotherly" relationship between the UAE and Jordan in addition to an array of regional and international issues of common concern. On Tuesday, a group of almost 50 UN human rights specialists called Israel’s plan to annex nearly a third of the West Bank amounts to a "vision of a 21st Century apartheid". They warned that the move would be a “serious violation” of international law and reinforce an "already unjust reality" as well as only intensifying human rights violations against Palestinians. "What would be left of the West Bank would be a Palestinian Bantustan, islands of disconnected land completely surrounded by Israel and with no territorial connection to the outside world,” the experts said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu aims to begin a process of applying Israeli sovereignty to Jewish settlements in the Jordan Valley and West Bank from July 1. The US effectively gave its blessing for the move last year in President Trump's Middle East peace plan, which proposes to leave Palestine with the remaining 70 per cent of the West Bank, along with Gaza and part of East Jerusalem as its capital. The Palestinians, who claim these lands in their entirety, have rejected the terms. Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and built dozens of settlements, which are illegal under international law.

Sheikh Mohamed assures Jordanian king of solidarity and rejects Israel's annexation of Palestinian lands

In a phone call, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi said the UAE was working with Arab countries against the illegal move