Palestinian-UAE relations

A Palestinian woman attends a demonstration outside the outside UNRWA's Headquarters in Gaza City, August 16, 2015. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

February 5, 2021, 1:36 pm

UAE massively cut aid to Palestinians after normalization with Israel

TV report, confirmed by UNRWA, says funds dropped from some $50 million a year to just $1 million in 2020, in possible retribution for Palestinian animosity over peace deal

By TOI staff

UAE Ambassador to the US Yousef al-Otaiba speaks on a Zoom panel organized by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy on February 1, 2021. (Screen capture/YouTube)

February 2, 2021, 5:45 am

UAE ambassador: ‘Abraham Accords were about preventing annexation’

Envoy also confirms Netanyahu trip to Abu Dhabi next week, says bad blood between Emiratis and Palestinians can be overcome with show of good faith from Ramallah

By Jacob Magid

Children, mask-clad due to the COVID-19 pandemic, look out from the window of a vehicle transporting Palestinians about to cross onto the Egyptian side through the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, on November 24, 2020 (SAID KHATIB / AFP)

December 16, 2020, 6:29 pm

UAE sends aid to Gaza, where 45% of virus tests return positive in past day

Hamas official says group has no intention of refusing, despite Gulf country’s normalization with Israel: ‘We’re facing a health disaster, we accept aid from everyone’

By Aaron Boxerman

File: A view of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

November 19, 2020, 3:39 am

Palestinians said to quietly return their ambassadors to UAE, Bahrain

Ramallah had recalled its envoys after the two countries announced their intention to normalize ties with Israel, decrying the deals as ‘a stab in the back’

By TOI staff

A Muslim woman takes a photo next to the Dome of the Rock Mosque in the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's old city, November 6, 2020. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

November 15, 2020, 3:13 pm

Palestinians torn as Israel pitches Jerusalem as destination to Gulf tourists

With Jewish state now establishing air links to major travel hubs of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, East Jerusalem could soon see a tourism boon after months shuttered by coronavirus

By Areej Hazboun and Joseph Krauss

The flags of the US, United Arab Emirates, Israel and Bahrain are screened on the walls of Jerusalem's Old City, on September 15, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

November 11, 2020, 8:31 pm

Poll: More Saudis think Israel, rather than Iran, is region’s biggest threat

Survey also finds half of Bahrainis and third of Emiratis don’t think Jewish State has right to exist, suggesting Israelis’ affinity for Gulf states is not entirely reciprocated

By Raphael Ahren

Palestinians with a banner showing Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan wearing an Israeli flag, during a rally against the United Arab Emirates' normalization deal with Israel, in the West Bank village of Turmusaya near Ramallah, Aug. 19, 2020. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

October 13, 2020, 10:52 pm

Top UAE official laments PA’s ingratitude after Abbas envoy rants on Israel ties

Anwar Gargash slams Palestinians’ ‘lack of loyalty’ after Ramallah diplomat calls Emirati leader a ‘little dictator’ and says UAE, Bahrain have ‘become more Israeli than Israelis’

By Raphael Ahren

Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan gives a scathing lecture criticizing the Palestinian leadership on al-Arabiya on Monday, October 5, 2020 (Screenshot: Youtube)

October 6, 2020, 6:09 am

Saudi prince: Palestinian leaders have been ‘failures’ for 70 years

In unsparing interview, Bandar bin Sultan, an ex-envoy to US and spy chief, says Palestinians took Riyadh’s support for granted, slams ‘reprehensible’ criticism of UAE-Israel deal

By Aaron Boxerman

Palestinians protest against the peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, 15 September 2020. (Flash90)

September 29, 2020, 1:41 pm

A peace paradox: Sidelined Palestinians may finally have their leverage

Israel’s inroads in the Arab world are based on strategic necessity. The Palestinians can’t stop the new peacemaking, but they can set a high price for it

By Haviv Rettig Gur

Anwar Gargash, the Emirati minister of state for foreign affairs, at the UAE Security Forum in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, December 12, 2019. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

September 15, 2020, 6:06 pm

Top UAE official: Peace treaty will only refer to two-state solution indirectly

Once anger over normalization with Jerusalem subsides, Palestinians will realize that UAE and Bahrain have more ‘leverage’ to pressure Israel into concessions, Anwar Gargash says

By Raphael Ahren

Israeli model May Tager, left, covers herself with an Israeli flag next to Anastasia Bandarenka, a Dubai-based model who covers herself in a UAE flag on the set of a photo shoot in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Sunday, September 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

September 13, 2020, 1:43 pm

Emiratis are ‘enthusiastic’ about peace with Israel, senior UAE official says

‘There needs to be trust’ for bilateral ties to flourish, Hend al-Otaiba says on controversial F-35 deal with US; vows Abu Dhabi’s support for Palestinians ‘will never diminish’

By Raphael Ahren

The deputy chairman of the Dubai Police and General Security, Lt. General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim (Via Twitter)

September 7, 2020, 12:08 pm

Top Dubai police official: Abbas not arbiter of who can have ties with Israel

Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, who has vacillated between support for Jewish state and anti-Semitic rants, says nations are not ‘at the command’ of Palestinian leader

By Raphael Ahren

An Emirati man next to the Bather, also called Venus, statue by Christophe-Gabriel Allegrain, 1710-1795, at the Louvre Museum in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, December 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

September 3, 2020, 6:43 am

Palestinians lead Arab artists to boycott UAE culture events after Israel deal

Encouraged by Abbas’s PA, cultural figures and intellectuals take a stand against Emirati-backed exhibits and awards, accusing the UAE of betraying the Palestinian cause

By AFP and TOI staff

An Emirati official stands near an El Al plane that carried a US-Israeli delegation to the UAE following a normalization accord, upon its arrival at the Abu Dhabi airport, in the first-ever direct flight from Israel to the UAE, on August 31, 2020. (KARIM SAHIB / AFP)

September 1, 2020, 6:46 am

Hosting Israeli delegation, UAE tells Palestinians it still backs their cause

Emirati FM tries to reassure Palestinians they have not been betrayed, as his country holds working groups with Israeli officials on wide-ranging Jerusalem-Abu Dhabi cooperation

By TOI staff

Fireworks explode at the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building during an event to celebrate the Dubai Expo 2020 One Year to Go, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, October 20, 2019. (Kamran Jebreili/AP)

August 18, 2020, 8:43 am

Palestinians to boycott Dubai Expo world fair over ties with Israel

PA Prime Minister Shtayyeh says measure a protest against UAE’s decision to normalize relations with ‘occupying power’

By TOI staff and Agencies