Hamas slams UAE meeting with Israel settlers

Hamas yesterday slammed the UAE after it received an Israeli settlement chief along with settlers and businessmen.

In a statement, the movement said: “Receiving the head of the settlement council in the West Bank by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and signing economic deals with him represents actual support for settlement activity in the occupied West Bank.”

Hamas added: “We believe that the growing ties between the UAE and settler groups in the occupied West Bank boost the Israeli occupation’s ability to implement its colonial annexation plans.”

“The UAE’s collaboration with settler groups violates all resolutions of the Arab League that call for boycotting all forms of colonial settlement activity.”

Hamas concluded: “It is shameful that several countries and international sides insist on boycotting Israeli settlements while the UAE is sparing no effort to develop relations with the colonial Israeli Zionist establishment.”

Last week, Israeli media reported that a delegation of Israeli settlers from illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank met with Emirati businessmen in Dubai to discuss trade and cooperation opportunities.

This comes a month after the UAE and Bahrain signed normalisation agreements with Israel.

MEMO