The United Arab Emirates has publicly announced its involvement in Israel’s plans to entrench its occupation of the Gaza Strip by expressing its readiness to participate in a multinational force following the ongoing Israeli war into its tenth month.
It is well known that the idea of forming an international force to take on specific tasks in Gaza after the war is one of the cornerstones of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to prolong the war on the Gaza Strip and solidify the occupation, a matter that the Palestinian factions reject.
The American newspaper Financial Times highlighted that the UAE has become the first country to announce its readiness to deploy troops on the ground in Gaza at a time when Arab countries and the West are struggling to come up with a feasible plan for the post-war phase in Gaza.
Lana Nusseibeh, the UAE’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, told the Financial Times that Abu Dhabi has discussed the plans with the United States as a step to fill the vacuum in the besieged Gaza Strip, meet its enormous humanitarian needs, and support reconstruction efforts.
She stated that the UAE would only participate if invited by the Palestinian Authority, the Western-backed body that administers limited parts of the occupied West Bank.
The UAE, which normalized relations with Israel in 2020, has maintained its communication with the Jewish state despite the ongoing Israeli war of extermination in Gaza.
The specifics of the mission, including whether it will be a military or police force, are still under discussion.
The United States has encouraged Arab countries to participate in a multinational force for Gaza as part of its post-war planning, but it is not expected that American forces will be deployed.
Earlier, diplomats revealed that Egypt, which shares a border with Gaza, and Morocco, which also normalized relations with Israel in 2020, are also considering this plan.
Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected any moves toward the establishment of a Palestinian state. He rejects any role for the Palestinian Authority in Gaza and insists that Israel will retain full security control there.
Other Arab officials have expressed concerns that they might be perceived as entering Gaza on the back of Israeli tanks and the risks of being drawn into an insurgency there.
A few days ago, diplomatic sources revealed that a meeting took place between Emirati and Israeli officials in Brussels, Belgium, aimed at coordinating propaganda efforts to incite against the Palestinian resistance factions in Gaza, particularly focusing on the post-Hamas phase according to Israeli plans.
Sources informed Emirates Leaks that the meeting included six media figures and self-styled analysts and political researchers loyal to the UAE, who are directly and indirectly involved in media programs and activities funded by Abu Dhabi.
Among those present at the meeting were former Palestinian Minister Ibrahim Abed Rabbo, Palestinian media figure Ramadan Abu Jazar, who is considered one of the prominent Emirati mercenaries in incitement and propaganda, and Palestinian normalization activist Basim Eid, as well as Saudi intelligence operative Abdulaziz Al-Khamis, one of the architects of normalization under Emirati directives.
On the other hand, the meeting included Israeli officials and journalists, including Ofir Gendelman, the Israeli government spokesperson for Arab media.
The sources stated that the meeting focused on coordinating Emirati-Israeli efforts to escalate plans for incitement and defamation against Palestinian resistance factions, including handling developments in the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza over the past ten months.
The sources also reported that the meeting was a follow-up to a public visit by Al-Khamis and a secret visit by Emirati officials to Israel last month to discuss media and propaganda strategies.
