TV: Gulf states warn US that Israeli annexation will sink rapprochement efforts

Gulf states have warned the White House that backing unilateral Israeli annexation in the West Bank would sink efforts to build closer ties between these countries and Israel, Channel 12 news reports.

“A green light for Israeli annexation will greatly harm the administration’s efforts to bring the Gulf states behind President Trump’s peace plan and will cause them to take a step back,” the network quotes a message from the unidentified countries as saying.

The report says they also warned “such a step will put an end to efforts to bring Israel and the Gulf States publicly closer together, including the efforts that were discussed to sign non-aggression pacts”

Yesterday, in the first-ever op-ed published in an Israeli paper by a Gulf diplomat, a senior ambassador from the United Arab Emirates warned Israel’s extension of sovereignty over parts of the West Bank would destroy hopes for further rapprochement between the Jewish state and the Arab world.