ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a positive meeting here with this wealthy Mideast nation’s top leaders Wednesday, but was met with pushback to President Trump’s proposal that the U.S. 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 UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, as well as Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan inside a major weapons bazaar taking place this week in Abu Dhabi. The International Defense Exhibition has drawn defense companies from around the world, including from the U.S., Israel, China, Russia and Ukraine.
While the two sides discussed ways to grow 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.
Mr. Rubio’s stop in Abu Dhabi marked the final leg of the first major Mideast tour for the new secretary of state. Mr. Rubio engaged in a high-stakes round of talks on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia that included a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that 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 also focused heavily on Washington’s ongoing 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 toward the end of President Trump’s first term by diplomatically recognizing Israel as part of the Abraham Accords in 2020. Abu Dhabi has more recently 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, according to The Associated Press.
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 added that there was discussion on 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.
With regard to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which marks its third anniversary on Monday, both the UAE and Saudi Arabia have been discussed as possible sites for peace talks to end the conflict.
Saudi Arabia also has been mentioned as the possible venue for a meeting between Mr. Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, providing a potential diplomatic boon to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler.
Russian money, meanwhile, continues to flood into 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, as well as Russians fleeing military conscription. Ukrainians as well have 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.