Middle East Monitor / June 30, 2021
Israeli Foreign Minister said that former US President Trump pushed for normalization between Israel and Arabs to prove that there was no need for a political process with Palestinians.
Israeli Foreign Minister and Alternate-Prime Minister Yair Lapid said yesterday that former US President Donald Trump pushed for normalization between Israel and Arabs to prove that there was no need for a political process with Palestinians.
During his visit to Abu Dhabi, where he attended the inauguration of the Israeli embassy, Lapid said: “There [under Trump’s administration] was a feeling sometimes that it [normalization] comes instead of something. Let’s do this to prove that we do not need… to advance on the Palestinian front.”
According to the Times of Israel, Lapid said that he was confident that the Biden administration wants to expand the Abraham Accords, which were orchestrated by the Trump administration in conjunction with former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
During his visit to the UAE Lapid discussed with his Emirati counterpart Abdullah Bin Zayed the internal Israeli issues, mainly the economic conditions and Israeli-Palestinians relations.
The Jerusalem Post reported that he hailed “the unusually large pile of economic agreements [between Israel and the UAE] happening quickly that will influence the lives of all Israelis” and will help Israel’s economy during a difficult period.
He signed an economic cooperation agreement with Bin Zayed at the end of their meeting.
“In the end, the Palestinians themselves have to want to move forward in order for someone else to come in and help them… That’s not the case right now,” he said of the situation regarding the occupation and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.
