The announcement comes when the Israeli cabinet approved the normalization treaty signed with the UAE in September.
The Israeli cabinet approved the signing of the normalization agreement with the United Arab Emirates on September 15, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he and Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince had agreed to meet soon.
The US-brokered agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates was condemned by the Palestinian leadership as a betrayal of their pursuit of statehood in the Israeli-occupied country.
The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, tweeted Monday that he and Netanyahu had spoken about strengthening bilateral ties and the prospects for peace in the region.
In an official statement that coincided with an Israeli cabinet vote approving the signing of the deal, Netanyahu said he and the Crown Prince would meet “soon”.
Series of normalization deals
The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain became the third and fourth Arab countries to officially establish diplomatic relations with Israel.
The Palestinians have described the deal as a grave betrayal by the Arab states and further undermined their self-determination efforts.
The only two Arab countries with which Israel has signed peace treaties in the past are Egypt and Jordan, in 1979 and 1994, respectively.
Egypt and Jordan share borders with Israel and have fought wars with Israel in the past.
The recent normalization deals were part of a broader diplomatic push by US President Donald Trump in the run-up to the US election in November.
Earlier this year, Trump unveiled a proposed Middle East plan – long touted by his administration as a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – that was categorically rejected by the Palestinians and received little regional support.
However, various reports have shown that some Gulf states have established covert relations with Israel in recent years. Some relationships date back to the 1990s when the US-brokered Oslo Accords were signed between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
Some countries, including Oman and Sudan, whose officials have met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent years, have been less reluctant to publicize their relations with Israel.
Many Arab states remain committed to the Arab peace initiative, which calls for the complete withdrawal of Israel from the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967 in exchange for the full normalization of relations.
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