US Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand said Monday the expansion of the so-called Abraham Accords should not be tied to illegal Israeli settlement building in the occupied West Bank.
When asked whether discussions about the Abraham Accords can move forward if there’s simultaneous Israeli construction beyond the 1948-occupied Palestine, Gillibrand told The Times of Israel, “I think you can have these negotiations about the Abraham Accords regardless of any local political issue.”
Gillibrand did not endorse settlement construction but she appeared far less concerned that such steps will increase under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new far-right government, the Israeli newspaper said.
“I think Prime Minister Netanyahu has a strong hold on his government,” she said.
While she has her “own concerns about statements and actions by the ultra far-right parts of his coalition”, Gillibrand said, “the prime minister assured us that it was his views, not theirs, that [are] relevant… and I took him at his word”.
The stance expressed by the Senator in an interview days after returning from a congressional trip to the Arab countries who signed the Abraham Accords with ‘Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco.
The Biden administration has expressed “unequivocal” opposition to illegal settlement building. It has also advocated for leveraging the Abraham Accords to boost Palestinian livelihood and to improve prospects for a two-state solution.
UAE, Bahrain and Morocco normalized ties with ‘Israel’ as part of the US-brokered Abraham Accords in 2020.
Gillibrand said she believed Kuwait could also join the Abraham Accords next. Kuwait has publicly opposed normalizing ties with ‘Israel’, and its national assembly has unsuccessfully tried to pass legislation to ban corporations with ties to ‘Israel’ from operating in Kuwait.
Gillibrand, who sits on the Senate’s Armed Services and Intelligence Committees, suggested also she was open to boosting arms sales to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states to advance the Abraham Accords, but clarified the US would need to guarantee defense technology didn’t fall into China’s hands.
“In the context of a broader regional peace agreement [though], I think all these things can be discussed,” she said.
The senator said Gulf states “were desperate” for “F-35s and other technology” that could help them create a regional missile defense against Iran”
