President Reuven Rivlin held a working meeting with Jared Kushner, Senior Advisor to the President of the United States and with members of the US delegation including Avi Berkowitz, Special Representative for International Negotiations, Brian Hook, Special Representative for Iran, Adam Boehler, CEO of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, and Aryeh Lightstone, Senior Advisor to US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.
At the beginning of the meeting the president noted the agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, saying that this opens a new chapter in the Middle East, bringing hope to our region. He welcomed the decision of the UAE to cancel its boycott of Israel, saying, “the decision is the beginning of normalization and creates many opportunities for cooperation.”
“I call on other Arab and Muslim states to follow this path of friendship and to establish full and warm relations with the State of Israel – peace between nations and peoples, peace for peace,” he said, adding that he hopes that this spirit of cooperation will help build a future of trust, also with the Palestinians.”
The president spoke with Kushner about the Land of the Monasteries, a joint initiative that he has been promoting in recent years and to prepare the area believed by Christians to be the baptismal site of John the Baptist for large numbers of pilgrims from around the world in cooperation between Israel and Jordanian, explaining that “promoting this site and developing it will be a major contribution to bridging between the peoples and religions and will allow the vision of coexistence into a reality as part of regional cooperation between Israel, Jordan and the Palestinians.” The president noted that he sees a new spirit in the region since the announcement of the agreement with the UAE as an opportunity to move the project forward and that US involvement would be helpful in that regard.
At the end of his remarks, the president expressed his thanks to the US delegation, headed by Kushner, for its efforts and wished him and his family a Shana Tova ahead of the Jewish new year.
The United Arab Emirates announced yesterday (Saturday) it had repealed legislation imposing a boycott of Israel.
UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan issued a federal decree "abolishing the Federal Law No. 15 of 1972 regarding boycotting Israel and the penalties thereof," the official WAM news agency reported.
"It will be permissible to enter, exchange or possess Israeli goods and products of all kinds in the UAE and trade in them."
The UAE will be the first Gulf state and only the third Arab country to establish full diplomatic ties with Israel -- a move condemned by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas as a betrayal.
Companies and individuals in the UAE may now enter into agreements with firms or individuals residing in Israel, WAM reported.
As part of the agreement announced by US President Donald Trump earlier this month, Israel agreed to suspend planned annexations in Judea and Samaria, although Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu quickly insisted the plans remained on the table.