Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Thursday agreed to normalize ties in a landmark US-brokered deal, only the third such accord the Jewish state has struck with an Arab nation.
The news was broken by US President Donald Trump in a tweet hailing a “HUGE breakthrough” and a “Historic Peace Agreement between our two GREAT friends.”
Leaders from both nations would sign the deal at the White House in roughly three weeks, Trump said.
Photos: AFP
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was a “historic day” and would launch a “new era” for the Arab world and Israel.
Palestinians rejected the deal, calling it a “betrayal” of their cause, including their claim to Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state.
Palestinian group Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, said that the agreement “does not serve the Palestinian cause.”
A joint statement by Trump, Netanyahu and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan announced that they had “agreed to the full normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.”
Israel would “suspend declaring sovereignty” over occupied Palestinian West Bank areas, it said, which was an idea proposed in Trump’s earlier plan to resolve the conflict.
Crown Prince Mohammad wrote on Twitter that “during a call with President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu, an agreement was reached to stop further Israeli annexation of Palestinian territories.”
Netanyahu said shortly afterward in a television address that he had only agreed to delay, not cancel, the plans, which remained “on the table” and that he would “never give up our rights to our land.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that he hoped the deal could help realize a two-state solution with Palestine for peace in the Middle East.
Annexation would “effectively close the door” on negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian leaders and “destroy the prospect” of a viable Palestinian state, he said.
Council on Foreign Relations president Richard Haass told reporters that the deal was “a milestone in Arab acceptance of Israel in the region.”
It was also “a brake on annexation, which would jeopardize Israel’s peace with Jordan and Israel’s own future as a Jewish, democratic state,” Haas said.
However, Turkey and Iran yesterday condemned the deal.
“While betraying the Palestinian cause to serve its narrow interests, the UAE is trying to present this as a kind of act of self-sacrifice for Palestine,” the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “History and the conscience of the people living in the region will not forget and never forgive this hypocritical behavior.”
The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called it a “stab in the back to all Muslims.”
“The UAE government and other accompanying governments must accept responsibility for all the consequences of this action,” it said.
Additional reporting by AP
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