RAMALLAH, West Bank / GAZA (Reuters) – Palestine has resigned its current chairmanship of the Arab League meetings, the Palestinian foreign minister said on Tuesday, condemning any Arab deal to formally identify with Israel as dishonorable.
Palestinians see the agreements that the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain signed with Israel in Washington a week ago as a betrayal of their cause and a blow in the search for an independent state in the territory occupied through Israel.
Earlier this month, the Palestinians failed to convince the Arab League to condemn nations that break ranks and normalize with Israel.
Palestine intended to preside over Arab League meetings over the next six months, but Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said at a news convention in Ramallah, West Bank, that he was no longer seeking the post.
“Palestine has taken the decision to grant its right to chair the League Council (of foreign ministers) at its current meeting. It is not an honor to see the Arabs rush towards the normalization of their presidency,” Maliki said.
In his comments, he called in particular the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, the Gulf Arab countries that share with Israel considerations on Iran. He said arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit had been informed of the Palestinian decision.
In a new movement to deal with Palestinian internal divisions, officials from President Mahmoud Abbas’ West Bank-based Fatah faction and the Islamist Hamas movement were scheduled to hold reconciliation talks in Turkey on Tuesday.
Hamas snatched the Gaza Strip from Fatah forces in 2007 in a series of fights. Differences in power-sharing have delayed the implementation of the unit agreements concluded since then.
(Edited through Jeffrey Heller, William Maclean)
Subscribe
Sign up for our news blast.