US mediation an assurance that suspension of Israeli annexations will hold: UAE official

United Arab Emirates foreign minister Anwar Gargash said Tuesday that the United States' role as a mediator in the deal to normalise ties with Israel assures him that the suspension of further annexation of Palestinian lands will hold.

Minister of state for foreign affairs Gargash also said it was not the time to revise the Arab Peace initiative, and that it remains the cornerstone of the UAE’s commitment to the Palestinian cause.

According to the deal, Israel haspledged to suspend its planned annexation of Palestinian lands in exchange for a normalisation of ties with the UAE.

The agreement was the product of lengthy discussions between Israel, the UAE and the United States that accelerated recently, White House officials said.

A joint statement issued by the three nations said US President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed had “agreed to the full normalisation of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates”.

The statement said that “as a result of this diplomatic breakthrough and at the request of President Trump with the support of the United Arab Emirates, Israel will suspend declaring sovereignty” over areas of the West Bank that were envisioned in a US plan announced by Trump in January.

The agreement envisions giving Muslims greater access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem by allowing them to fly from Abu Dhabi to Tel Aviv, White House officials said.