UAE, Israel ministers in ‘historic’ first meet at Holocaust Memorial

BERLIN: The foreign ministers of Israel and the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday visited the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin during their "historic" first meeting, a major step forward for their new relations. Israel's Gabi Ashkenazi and UAE counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan bumped elbows in line with measures to halt the spread of the coronavirus. It was their first face-to-face meeting since their countries set asides decades of enmity and signed a US-brokered deal in mid-September to normalise ties. Accompanied by their host German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, the pair walked through the sombre monument, a vast undulating labyrinth of more than 2,700 grey concrete blocks spread over an area equivalent to three football fields. It commemorates the slaughter of six million Jews by Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime.

Visibly relaxed, Ashkenazi and Sheikh Abdullah shared a few words as they visited the monument's underground museum and signed the visitors' book.