LONDON: The normalisation agreements between Israel, the UAE and Bahrain provide the Palestinian Authority with an opportunity to engage productively with the Israeli government, according to UK Minister for Middle East and North Africa James Cleverly.
“What we have said to the Palestinian Authority, indeed the Palestinian people, is that this provides an opportunity to engage... Take this as an opportunity to put forward a strong and meaningful counter proposal,” he told Al Arabiya.
“Ultimately the UK’s position remains the same, that we want to see a safe, secure, prosperous Palestinian state alongside a safe, prosperous Israel, with East Jerusalem as a shared capital and along the 1967 borders,” Cleverly added.
“We really hope that this provides a catalyst for a resumption of a good working relationship between the Palestinian Authority and the government of Israel.”
The September 15 US-brokered deals were signed in Washington in the presence of Foreign Minister Dr Abdullatif Al Zayani, UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The UK minister stressed that his country’s position on Iran was consistent in that it wanted Tehran to steer away from pursuing nuclear weapons and to stop interfering in the affairs of its neighbouring countries in the region.
Cleverly listed the conditions upon which the UK’s relationship with Iran would be “more similar to other relationships we have with countries around the world and around the region”.
“Iran does need to step back from interference beyond its borders; it does need to step away from any attempts to become a nuclear weapons state and if it were to take steps in that direction we would welcome that and we would wish to see our relationships normalised,” he said.
“But unfortunately, at the moment, we have not seen that kind of action from Iran and we will work with our international partners to ensure that there is regional peace and regional stability and that nothing Iran does should in anyway upset that,” he added.
Iran has a long history of arming and financially supporting its network of proxies – Shia militias across the Middle East – to further its influence in the region.
Cleverly also stressed that the UK wants peace in Libya, which is currently mired in a civil armed conflict with foreign countries backing different side.
“We want to see a de-escalation in Libya, we want to see both arms and foreign fighters removed from the country and a political dialogue to drive the settlement there,” he said.
“The Libyan people have suffered for such a long time and there cannot be a military solution, it has to be a negotiated political solution.”