Israeli interior minister rules out Palestinian statehood in UAE visit

Israel's interior minister said there will be no Palestinian state in the foreseeable future, during her visit to the UAE.

Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked is on her first official visit to the UAE, where she met her counterpart Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al-Nahyan on the sidelines of the Dubai Expo 2020 on Monday.

Ayelet Shaked said on Wednesday morning that a Palestinian state will not be created during current Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s term or when Foreign Minister Yair Lapid takes over as premier under the current coalition deal.

“The Israeli government won’t deliberate on the establishment of a Palestinian state under the present government of Bennett or Lapid when he comes into office under the rotational agreement,” she told UAE-based outlet The National.

“There is a consensus among the parties not to get involved in the issue, which could cause an internal rift.”

“We believe in economic peace as a means of improving Palestinians lives and to create cooperative industrial zones. But not a state with an army, absolutely not”, Shaked added.

Shaked also spoke out against the non-violent Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement in her interview, calling them "hypocritical" and "anti-Semitic".

The visit comes after the one-year anniversary of the Abraham Accords, which saw various Arab states - including the UAE - normalise ties with Israel last year under the tenures of then Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump.

The UAE shocked the Arab world by agreeing on a normalisation deal with Israel last year. Palestinians have pointed out that the Abraham Accords reward Israel while it continues to illegally occupy the West Bank and besiege the Gaza Strip.