The UAE has reaffirmed its commitment to achieving a two-state solution, saying it is the“only path” to lasting peace. Speaking in Abu Dhabi, Anwar Gargash, the diplomatic adviser to the UAE's president, also said that any annexation of Palestinian land was a“red line” for the country.

“The UAE will not veer away from this Arab and international vision that there has to be a viable Palestinian state,” he said.“We have issues about how things should be managed but it does not contradict that part. We are very adamant that any annexation would actually be a red line for the UAE.”

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Gargash was speaking at the Reuters NEXT Gulf Summit in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. He said that a“maximalist view” on Palestine is no longer valid and warned that extremism on both sides will only perpetuate the conflict. He added that a return to confrontation will further devastate Palestinians and fail to provide Israel with lasting security.

Gargash said that the Abraham Accords were strategic and essential to achieving peace and highlighted the UAE's role in delivering aid to Gaza.“In the last two years, we've spent $2.57 billion on Gaza aid,” he said.“This is close to almost 46 per cent of all aid reaching Gaza. If you break it down, we've had 100,000 tons of food and medical equipment going to Gaza. Our water lines from Egypt to Rafah cover a million people in Gaza. It's given us a lot of things to do on the humanitarian, and I think we will scale up.”

He added that none of this would have been possible, if the UAE did not have a relationship with Israel.“The UAE has been able to leverage its relations with Israel in order to use that access,” he said.“If we had no relationship with Israel, we wouldn't have been able to bring 3,000 Palestinians and their children and their families here, for example.”

Speaking at another session, UAE Minister of State Lana Nusseibeh explained why UAE took the decision to sign the Abraham Accords. "We [wanted] to speak to that 30 per cent of the region's population under 25 with a new vision of peace, coexistence, and tolerance," she said.

She also added that the UAE is positioning itself as a pragmatic diplomatic connector and was trying to leverage diplomacy to mediate conflicts.

According to Gargash, the UAE will play a pivotal role in rebuilding Gaza but he insisted that there needs to be political clarity.“We want to help in every way we can but I think the UAE's role will be very flexible based on what is the horizon,” he said.“If we see a clear horizon to a long-term Palestinian state, then of course our role will expand. I was talking to a Dutch colleague a couple of years ago and after October 7th, and she told me that the Dutch rebuilt Gaza Port three times. No country wants to put major investments if it does not actually mean a long-lasting peace that actually stays.”

In a separate conversation during the event, Emirati businessman Mohamed Alabbar said he had not been approached to rebuild Gaza and he did not have any inclination towards it.

“The philosophy that I follow [is] that everybody should clean up his garbage,” he said, joining the meeting remotely from Georgia.“So if I had eaten in my plate, then it's my job to clean my plate. I think the people who are involved in the whole chaos, they should be responsible to do whatever it is.”

In his cheeky style, he added that he was very busy making billions of dollars of profit“like the capitalists in the US and other countries” to be involved in restructuring Gaza, reiterating that those who played a part in destroying the city should be tasked with building it back up.

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