ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Secretary of State Marco Rubio held what officials described as a positive meeting with this wealthy Middle Eastern nation’s top leaders Wednesday but was met with pushback to President Trump’s proposal for the U.S. to take control of the war-ravaged Gaza Strip and relocate Palestinians from the territory as part of a grand reconstruction project.
Mr. Rubio met with the UAE’s president, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and foreign minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, inside the colossal weapons bazaar in Abu Dhabi. The International Defense Exhibition has attracted companies from the U.S., Israel, China, Russia, Ukraine and elsewhere.
While the two sides discussed ways to expand U.S.-UAE security, diplomatic and economic cooperation, the Emirati leaders used the meeting to affirm their “firm position rejecting any attempts aimed at displacing the Palestinian people from their land,” according to a readout of the meeting published by the UAE’s official WAM news agency.
Sheikh Mohammed reportedly stressed that reconstruction in Gaza must be backed by a “comprehensive and lasting peace” deal based on a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank, The Associated Press reported.
Mr. Rubio’s stop in Abu Dhabi marked the final leg of his first Middle East tour as secretary of state. He engaged in a high-stakes round of talks Tuesday in Saudi Arabia that included a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, which could open the way for negotiations to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
The Saudi stop and the UAE stop, as well as a visit earlier in the week to Israel, have focused heavily on Washington’s push to keep a fragile ceasefire alive between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that attacked Israel from Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023.
The UAE made global headlines in 2020, toward the end of Mr. Trump’s first term, by officially recognizing Israel as part of the Abraham Accords. Abu Dhabi has played a key role as a mediator of prisoner swaps between Russia and Ukraine.
During his meeting with Sheikh Mohammed and Sheikh Abdullah on Wednesday, Mr. Rubio thanked the UAE “for the strength and enduring nature of the relationship,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement, as reported by AP.
Ms. Bruce said the secretary of state described the U.S.-UAE relationship as “one marked by strong economic ties, defense cooperation and mutual interests in regional stability.”
She said the discussions included artificial intelligence, Gaza, Syria, Lebanon and the Red Sea, where Iran-backed Houthi militants have disrupted global trade by carrying out attacks on commercial shipping vessels. The Houthis claim the attacks have been conducted as a show of support for Hamas.
On the issue of Gaza, the Emirati leaders “underscored the importance of linking Gaza’s reconstruction to a path that leads to a comprehensive and lasting peace based on the two-state solution as the only manner of ensuring stability in the region,” according to the UAE’s official WAM news agency readout.
Regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which marks its third anniversary on Monday, the UAE and Saudi Arabia have been discussed as possible sites for peace talks.
Saudi Arabia has also been mentioned as a possible venue for a meeting between Mr. Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, which would provide a potential diplomatic boon to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler.
Russian money, meanwhile, is flooding the booming real estate market in the UAE city of Dubai.
A steady stream of commercial flights between the UAE and Moscow provides a lifeline for the Russian elite and Russians fleeing military conscription. Ukrainians have also flocked to the UAE, a diverse destination in the Middle East that is autocratically ruled as a federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
• Guy Taylor can be reached at gtaylor@washingtontimes.com.
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