In a first, Israeli settlement leaders visit UAE, meet government officials

Regional council heads from Judea and Samaria praised their hosts for openness to “thinking outside the box” regarding regional issues.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

In a first, a delegation of settler leaders went for an official visit 10 days ago to a Muslim country and aired their views on a range of regional economic issues as well as political matters.

Dr. Ali Rashid Al Nuami, a senior member of the National Council in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), invited several regional council heads from Judea and Samaria to his official residence on March 12 for an Iftar meal , which is eaten after the daily Ramadan fast.

Mount Hebron Regional Council head Eliram Azoulay praised the government officials, business leaders and influencers the group met who did not automatically back the Palestinian rejectionist view of the Mideast conflict.

“It was amazing to see that there is a courageous leadership that is interested in hearing directly about the communities and settlements in Judea and Samaria,” he said.

“I discovered a leadership that is a partner in the war against Hamas, Hezbollah, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Iran with all their civilian arms in Judea and Samaria as well. A leadership that is not afraid to openly say that we need to fight the Palestinian Authority’s education in evil and hatred of Jews.”

The connections now made, he added, “open up new opportunities for implementing the Abraham Accords in Judea and Samaria.”

In thanking their host for “the respectful hospitality and the open and important dialogue,” Yesha Council Chairman Yisrael Gantz said that the visit “is evidence of regional change and the need for new thinking. A new world order requires new alliances and thinking outside the box.”

“Cooperation between peoples, based on mutual respect and recognition of reality, is the way to strengthen settlement and ensure a strong future for both countries,” he added.

Ynet cited a source who said that the Emiratis wanted to hear the Yesha Council’s views firsthand due to their recognition of the warm ties settler leaders have formed with members of the Trump administration and their influence within the Israeli government.

This influence is mostly due to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, the head of the Religious Zionism party who has the authority in the Defense Ministry over land allocation as well as planning and construction for settlements in Judea and Samaria.

Even during the ongoing war with Hamas and concurrent IDF incursions into Palestinian hotbeds of terrorism in Judea and Samaria, he has advanced the recognition of young settlements and authorized tens of thousands of new housing units in the region.

On Saturday night, the Security Cabinet approved Smotrich’s request to recognize 13 communities as independent entities instead of parts of their “parent” settlements.

Last June, the government legalized three young settlements and allotted land near Jerusalem to build the first new settlement in the region in eight years.

In addition, in just the first three months of 2025, the construction in various existing villages of over 10,500 housing units has been advanced at various levels of the approval process, as the Higher Planning Council in charge of housing development in the region began meeting once a week instead of once a quarter or less, which was the custom in previous years.

This already outstrips the 9,880 units approved in all of 2024, a total that had been greeted with joy by the settlement movement after far lower numbers were recorded during the first three years of the Biden Administration, which claimed that Jewish building in Judea and Samaria was “an obstacle to peace.”