DUBAI (Reuters) – The United Arab Emirates’ ambassador to the United States, Yousef Al Otaiba, said on Wednesday that the U.S. approach to Gaza was “difficult”.
“But at the end of the day, we’re all in a solution-seeking business, we just don’t know where it’s going to land yet,” he said during the World Government Summit in Dubai.
President Donald Trump said the United States would take over the war-ravaged Gaza Strip and develop it economically after Palestinians are resettled elsewhere, actions that would shatter decades of U.S. policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Asked whether the UAE and the United States could find common ground on Gaza, the ambassador said his country was going to try.
Otaiba said the two countries could still hold talks and coordinate even if they might disagree on a certain issue.
“We are agile, we make our voices heard and we are very outspoken and unapologetic about this, so just like any relationship, sometimes our friends listen to us, sometimes they don’t, sometimes we agree on certain positions, sometimes we disagree, we’ve always strived to find common ground,” he said.
“Just because we don’t like a certain thing, it doesn’t mean we don’t talk to each other,” he added.
(Reporting by Maha El Dahan and Clauda Tanios; Editing by Alison Williams and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
