The UAE supports the Palestinian cause and their right to have Jerusalem as the capital of a future state, the minister of foreign affairs said on Tuesday, as he discussed several issues plaguing the region, including Saudi Arabia's war with the Yemeni Houthi rebels.
In an exclusive interview with Al Arabiya, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan said he travelled to Jerusalem to attend celebrations marking the end of the city as the Arab Culture Capital and said the UAE wholeheartedly supports the Palestinian cause.
It is important that governments support strongly the will of the Palestinian people to help in regaining their rights, and the most important of their rights is to have Jerusalem as a capital for the Palestinian state
"It is important that governments support strongly the will of the Palestinian people to help in regaining their rights, and the most important of their rights is to have Jerusalem as a capital for the Palestinian state," Nahyan said.
The minister also spoke about Iran and said although the UAE considered Tehran its "Muslim brotherly neighbor" it must end its differences with its neighbors and improve relations to strengthen the region.
With regards to recent tension in Iran-Iraq relations, sparked after a group of armed men raised the Iranian flag over an Iraqi oil field, the minister said he believed both nations had enough "wisdom" to resolve the conflict politically.
Nahyan said he hoped to see a day when Iraq would go back to the "Iraq we knew" and said he hoped the war-torn nation would come out of its problems soon.
Saudi's sovereign right
The foreign minister said the situation in Yemen was very precarious at the moment and said the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) discussed the Houthis at their latest meeting in Kuwait.
Nahyan said the UAE wanted to send a strong and clear message that "the only title for Yemen is the current Yemeni government.”
The minister also said that Saudi Arabia had every right to defend its sovereignty using all methods.
"Saudi Arabia has the full and ultimate right to defend its sovereignty,” Nahyan told Al Arabiya correspondent Abdullah al-Mutaeh, adding "what matters about this subject is that the leaders of the GCC have a unified vision."
About recent talks between Egypt's President Housni Mubarak and the UAE's President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the foreign minister said it comes in the frame of strengthening the relationships between the two brotherly countries.
"It is a great meeting and comes at an important time amid new developments on the international political arena," the minister said, adding "This meeting is a precious opportunity to discuss the relationship between the two countries."
Nahyan also added the Emirates was the biggest Arab investor in Egypt.
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