Benjamin Netanyahu said the collaboration will be in the areas of research and development and technology.
New Delhi:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that his country would cooperate with the United Arab Emirates to fight the coronavirus pandemic, despite the lack of diplomatic relations.
“This collaboration will take place in the areas of research and development and technology, in areas that will improve health security across the region,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
He did not give further details, but said that the proposed cooperation – which will be officially announced by the health ministers of Israel and the United Arab Emirates – “is the result of prolonged and intense contacts in recent months” .
Apart from Jordan and Egypt, the Arab countries have no official relations with Israel.
But the Arab Gulf states, including the United Arab Emirates, have increasingly woven informal ties with Israel in recent years amidst common concerns over Iran, which the Jewish state regards as its sworn enemy.
“The stronger we are, the more powerful we are to deter our enemies and bring our friends together,” said Netanyahu in his statement.
His remarks came just days before Israel intended to launch US-backed plans to annex settlements in the occupied West Bank and the Jordan Valley.
The plan aroused the fury of the Palestinians and attracted international condemnation.
On Wednesday, the United Nations, European and Arab powers warned Israel that the plan would be a major blow to peace.
The Arab countries have repeatedly called for a settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a condition for normalizing ties with the Jewish state.
And earlier this month, the UAE ambassador to Washington warned that annexing parts of the West Bank would jeopardize any warming of Arab-Israeli relations.
“The annexation will certainly and immediately upset Israeli aspirations to improve security, economic and cultural ties with the Arab world and with the United Arab Emirates,” Yousef al-Otaiba wrote in a rare editorial by an Emirati official. in the best-selling Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot. .
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
