Normalization with Israel would not survive a unilateral land grab at the Palestinians’ expense.

In a watershed article in a leading Israeli newspaper, a top diplomat from the United Arab Emirates warned the Israeli public on Friday that unilateral annexation of West Bank territory would endanger Israel’s warming ties with Arab countries.

Writing in Friday’s Yediot Ahronot, Yousef al-Otaiba, the Emirates’ ambassador to the United States, appealed directly to Israelis in Hebrew to deter Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from following through on his promise to annex occupied territory as early as next month.

“It’s Either Annexation or Normalization,” the headline over his op-ed declared.

The article rebutted an argument by Mr. Netanyahu that annexing West Bank land that the Palestinians have counted on for a state would not imperil Israel’s chances of forging deeper relations with countries like the Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Mr. Netanyahu has vowed to push through annexation after July 1, in connection with the Trump administration’s plan for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But while Mr. Netanyahu and some of his allies in the Trump administration are pressing for speed, eager to act before the November presidential election in the United States, others in Washington are pumping the brakes, in part out of concern about resistance in the Arab world.