As Gaza burns under massacres, starvation, and siege, a new front is quietly opening—not with tanks or airstrikes, but through bank transfers and digital surveillance. And this time, it comes with the full cooperation of a so-called Arab “partner”: the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
In what analysts describe as the most dangerous development since Abu Dhabi’s normalisation with Tel Aviv in 2020, the Palestinian Authority has signed a financial agreement with the UAE that effectively places Palestine’s financial infrastructure under dual surveillance: security monitoring from the UAE and digital oversight by Israel. This is being implemented through the NER transaction monitoring system, which is directly linked to UAE intelligence infrastructure and Israeli data centres.
Money in Place of Sovereignty
According to sources familiar with the secretive negotiations between Ramallah and Abu Dhabi, the deal—marketed as a “technical aid package to improve financial transparency”—conceals a surveillance regime enabling the UAE (and by extension, Israel) to control the flow of funds to any Palestinian entity, whether governmental, charitable, or grassroots. The agreement grants them the authority to decide who is “legitimate” and who is not.
This means that any organisation not aligned with the UAE–Israeli agenda—including local NGOs, humanitarian groups, or even supporters from countries like Qatar or Saudi Arabia—may be labelled as “terrorist funders” or “illegal actors.”
Foreign Oversight of Internal Palestinian Affairs
Documents and follow-up discussions following the deal confirm that the UAE State Security Agency has already contacted Gulf-based money transfer companies, urging them to link their platforms to this new surveillance network. The goal is to monitor every transfer: the end recipient, the intermediary, and the stated purpose of the funds.
A prototype has already been funded for a “smart remittance station” in Ramallah. It is monitored directly from Abu Dhabi and built in coordination with Israeli cybersecurity units.
Silent Economic Annexation
This cannot be understood in isolation. It is part of a broader Israeli strategy to subjugate Palestinians in the West Bank through conditional money, administered not by direct military rule but through compliance-driven financial architecture—with the UAE serving as gatekeeper.
Facing a severe financial crisis, the Palestinian Authority has been lured into what appears to be a lifeline, but in reality, it’s a silken noose tightening around the throat of Palestinian autonomy—both politically and economically.
Today, the UAE funds what it claims is a system to “combat corruption.” Tomorrow, it could control salaries, aid, and food voucher systems, ensuring that no money enters Palestine unless it passes through the filters of the Bin Zayed regime—giving Israel de facto financial veto power from behind the curtain.
Arab Supporters Silenced
Since the agreement’s signing, there have been clear signals of pressure on any actors attempting to provide aid outside the approved channels. Several Gulf-based organisations were informed that any money sent to Gaza or the West Bank outside the system would be considered “hostile to legitimacy.”
This directly serves Israeli interests, which have always aimed to isolate the Palestinians from popular and official support in the Arab world—especially from nations that have not joined the wave of normalisation.
While some Arab states continue to support Palestinian civil and humanitarian institutions, the UAE appears to be collaborating with the occupation to ensure that no external help reaches Palestinians without passing through its so-called “secure financial gateway.”
A Prelude to a Larger Political Scheme
The UAE’s actions must be viewed as part of a comprehensive geopolitical project to reshape the political landscape of the West Bank.
After failing to dismantle the military infrastructure of the Palestinian resistance, Israel now turns to dismantling economic resilience and societal strength. The UAE is not just a financial backer—it has become an operational arm of a new kind of occupation: one based on economic coercion and the humiliation of dependency, not bulldozers and tanks.
Just as “security coordination” gave Israel access to resistance fighters, this new “financial coordination” aims to paralyse anyone who steps outside the official narrative dictated by the occupation.
Normalisation Disguised as Aid
The UAE regime presents this intervention as a “service to the Palestinian cause”, but in truth, it is the clearest expression of the adage: “He who pays, commands.”
Under the pretext of financial support, Mohammed bin Zayed seeks to become the sole Arab decision-maker in Palestinian affairs, ensuring no initiative for reconstruction, leadership reform, or resistance can emerge outside the boundaries drawn by Israel.
What the UAE is doing today is delivering the West Bank to Israel—not through military conquest, but through a new financial-digital occupation, granting Israel unprecedented control over Palestinian life while excluding any other Arab actor with an alternative vision.
As Gaza starves and children perish, some see this financial deal as a “developmental step.” But in reality, it is the opening phase of a new liquidation campaign—this time, the target is not land or resistance fighters, but the will of the Palestinian people, broken through financial strangulation and the collapse of support networks.
There is no weapon more lethal than bread when it is subject to Zionist surveillance, and no betrayal more insidious than when it comes from an Arab brother who willingly hands over Palestine’s keys through the gates of money.
