UAE pushes for sanctions against Israel over E1 housing project

Despite Abraham Accords ties and Israeli air defenses provided during Iran war, United Arab Emirates joins calls for sanctions on the Jewish state.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

The United Arab Emirates has joined seven Arab and Muslim countries in calling for international sanctions against individuals and organizations involved in Israel’s E1 construction project, putting one of Israel’s most prominent Abraham Accords partners at odds with Jerusalem over housing construction in Judea and Samaria.

The foreign ministers of the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan and Indonesia issued a joint statement Friday condemning the E1 project and demanding that Israel halt the plan.

The declaration went beyond diplomatic criticism, expressing support for “appropriate international measures and sanctions” against “entities and individuals responsible for illegal settlement activities,” including those involved with E1.

The eight countries also called for measures against those who support, facilitate or implement settlement expansion, and demanded an end to financing that contributes to the establishment or expansion of Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria.

The UAE’s participation is particularly notable because Abu Dhabi established full diplomatic relations with Israel under the US-brokered Abraham Accords in 2020.

Economic and diplomatic ties between the two countries have expanded substantially since then, including the introduction of direct flights and a bilateral free-trade agreement.

During the recent conflict with Iran, Israel deployed Iron Dome air defense batteries and crews to the UAE to protect the country from missile attacks.

The eight-country statement described E1 as a “dangerous escalation,” arguing that construction there would disrupt territorial continuity between Palestinian Arab population centers in Judea and Samaria and eastern Jerusalem and undermine prospects for a future Palestinian state.

It called for “immediate action” to stop the project and reverse measures already taken to implement it.

The latest controversy follows the Israeli Housing Ministry’s publication this week of a tender for 1,234 homes in E1, a largely undeveloped area between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim.

The tender represents a significant step toward actual construction after decades in which successive Israeli governments advanced the project but repeatedly stopped short of building amid international pressure.

The larger E1 plan provides for roughly 3,400 housing units.

Israeli supporters of the project view E1 as strategically important because construction would strengthen the physical connection between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim.

Opponents argue it would severely complicate the creation of a contiguous Palestinian state by interrupting a potential north-south Palestinian corridor through the area surrounding Jerusalem.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has openly presented E1 as part of his effort to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.

When announcing the project’s advancement last year, Smotrich responded to countries seeking recognition of Palestinian statehood by declaring: “Not with documents nor with decisions or statements, but with facts. Facts of houses, facts of neighbourhoods.”

The project has faced mounting opposition beyond the Arab and Muslim world.

Britain, France, Germany, Italy and a number of other Western governments condemned the publication of the tenders last week and urged Israel to withdraw them.

British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband called the move an “unacceptable and destructive act” and said London was preparing measures aimed at those participating in settlement expansion.