Top UAE and Palestinian officials had an “unusual shouting match” during a meeting with US State Secretary
Anthony Blinken and other Arab authorities at the end of April in Saudi Arabia, according to informed sources who spoke with
Axios.
Pent-up tensions flared between UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed and Hussein al-Sheikh, a close deputy to Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, after the latter said the West Bank-ruling organization “isn't getting enough political and financial support" to advance
reforms and create a new government, as Washington and Arab countries have tasked them.
Following this claim, the Emirati foreign minister “pushed back” and told Al-Sheikh that Abu Dhabi has not witnessed any “significant reform” within the PA.
He then called the PA leadership “Ali Baba and the forty thieves,” charged them with being “useless,” and said that "replacing them with one another will only lead to the same result."
"Why would the UAE give assistance to the Palestinian Authority without real reforms?" the top Emirati diplomat reportedly asked.
An Emirati official who spoke with
Axios confirmed the remarks and said: “His Highness added that if the Palestinian Authority paid as much attention to its own people as it does to
security coordination with Israel, the Palestinians will be in much better shape.”
In response to this, the PA official shouted back, saying that “nobody will dictate” how the PA will conduct its reforms.
In addition to Blinken, the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, and Kuwait were also present at the
Riyadh summit.
As the meeting to discuss the Gaza genocide went off the rails, the sources say Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal Bin Farhan Al Saud “tried to cool down the heated exchange and said reforms take time.”
Nevertheless, his efforts were for naught as the Emirati foreign minister left the room in anger. He reportedly returned a few minutes later after Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi went to speak with him.
Bin Zayed then “apologized to Blinken that he had to witness the internal squabble.”
Bad blood grew between the PA and the UAE after Abu Dhabi normalized ties with Israel in 2020 under the auspices of the US. Since then, Ramallah rejected financial assistance from the oil-rich nation
at least twice.
In 2021, Israeli think tank the Center for Near East Policy Research
reported that the UAE slashed funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in the wake of the normalization deal.
https://thecradle.co/articles-id/25317
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