UAE joins Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia in condemning Israeli settlements 

The latest episode in the post-Iran war realignment came on Friday, when the UAE joined Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, and Pakistan in a joint foreign ministers’ statement that unequivocally condemned Israel’s continued settlement policies – especially the E1 plan east of East Jerusalem – and reaffirmed support for a contiguous Palestinian state on the 1967 lines with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Massive shift: The UAE has just made a stunning U-turn, joining Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia in a blistering joint statement condemning Israel. They are demanding an immediate withdrawal to 1967 borders and a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem.

Abraham Accords? Officially… https://t.co/0QTz8drqog

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The statement called for an immediate halt to the E1 plan, accountability measures against those driving settlement expansion and annexation, and warned that such actions undermine the two-state solution and challenge international peace efforts (including elements of President Trump’s Comprehensive Plan that reject annexation).

Seven Western leaders condemn Israel’s E1 settlement tenders 

For a country that signed the Abraham Accords in 2020 and has deepened security and economic ties with Israel, UAE participation marks a notable public diplomatic alignment with states that have taken a harder line on Israeli actions in the West Bank.

This is not an isolated event. It sits within a series of larger tectonic shifts that followed Trump’s war on Iran launched on 28 February. Among the most significant:

• The Saudi-Turkey-Pakistan axis has solidified. In early August 2026 the three countries formalized a mutual defence understanding (often referred to as the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement). An attack on one is to be treated as an attack on all. This arrangement, sometimes linked to a broader grouping that also draws in Egypt (STEP or R4), gives the “Islamic coalition” a concrete security architecture independent of the United States. It reflects Riyadh’s decision to diversify away from sole reliance on Washington and to balance both residual Iranian power and Israeli military reach.
• The U.S. role has diminished to that of a “guarantor of last resort.” Gulf states, Turkey, and Pakistan played active roles in shaping off-ramps from the Iran war. Regional capitals no longer treat American instructions as automatic. They are hedging more aggressively – deepening defence industry and diplomatic ties among themselves, exploring arrangements with China, and managing Iranian pressure and Israeli unilateralism on their own terms. Washington retains military weight, but its political reliability and ability to dictate outcomes have been visibly reduced.

These developments are producing a more polarized Middle East. One loose camp (often called the Abrahamic coalition) is anchored by Israel and the UAE, with commercial, technological, and security links that sometimes extend to India and Greece. The other, more “Islamic” or Sunni-led grouping cantered on Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan, and Egypt prioritizes collective deterrence against Iran while also setting clearer limits on Israeli actions. The UAE continues to straddle both worlds: it maintains and in some areas expands its Accords-era partnership with Israel for hard security, yet joins broader Muslim-majority diplomatic initiatives on core Palestinian territorial questions.

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Caption: A handout photo made available by the UAE’s Presidential Court shows President of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (C-R) welcoming Sultan of Oman Haitham bin Tariq Al Said (C-L) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 17 August 2026. EPA/THE UAE PRESIDENTIAL COURT / HANDOUT

• Abraham Accords
• Donald Trump
• Gaza war
• Gulf States
• Iran war
• Saudi Arabia
• UAE
• West Bank

Updated: August 22, 2026 - 05:33