The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain have signed agreements to normalize with Israel as a component of a strategic realignment of Middle Eastern countries opposed to Iran.
U. S. President Donald Trump organized a rite at the White House on Tuesday that ended a dramatic month in which the United Arab Emirates and then Bahrain agreed to normalize unresolved the decades-long confrontation between Israel and the Palestinians, which condemned the agreements.
At the U. S. event, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed agreements with Emirati Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani.
These agreements make them the third and fourth Arab state to take steps to normalize since Israel signed the peace treaties with Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994.
“Other people in the Middle East will no longer allow hatred of Israel to be fostered as an excuse for radicalism or extremism,” Trump said at the White House ceremony.
“And they will no longer deny the fate of their region. “
“This peace will expand to reach other Arab states. And at the end of the day, the Arab-Israeli conflict can end, once and for all,” Netanyahu said.
Ammar Hijazi, Deputy Minister of Multilateral Affairs of the Palestinian Authority, said the signing of the agreements “was a sad day. “
“The path to peace for the Palestinians is to end this brutal Israeli profession and grant Palestinians their inalienable rights to self-determination. Without it, there is no sign of peace in the region,” Hijazi told Al Jazeera.
Hijazi called the White House signature rite a “photo shoot” that “only turns Israel into a policeman in the region” and paves the way for more U. S. arms sales in the region.
Consecutive agreements mark a diplomatic victory for Trump, who spent his presidency making plans and agreements on disorders as intractable as North Korea’s nuclear program to locate real and elusive achievements.
The combination of Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain would possibly be their unusual fear of Iran’s growing influence in the region and the progression of ballistic missiles. Iran has criticized both agreements. Qatar, a Gulf state, has ruled the normalization of relations with Israel until the Israeli-Palestinian confrontation is resolved.
With Trump’s re-election on November 3, the agreements can help build the pro-Israeli evangelical Christian electorate in the United States, a vital component of its political base.
In statements to Fox News hours before the ceremony, Trump said he hoped more Arab countries would normalize relations with Israel and predicted that Palestinians would eventually join them or “stay behind. “
One of the targets of the White House appeals is Saudi Arabia, the largest Arab force in the Gulf. So far, the Saudis, whose king is the custodian of Islam’s holiest sites and leading the world’s largest oil exporter, have pointed out that they are ready.
Another target is Oman, whose leader spoke to Trump last week. Qatari Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Lolwah al-Khater told Bloomberg on Monday that normalization with Israel “cannot be the answer” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Although a diplomatic victory for Netanyahu, the rite occurs when he faces a complaint at home over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and a corruption trial on charges of corruption, fraud and non-compliance to accept as true that they have led to common street protests.
Netanyahu denies wrongdoing, describing his trial as a left-wing political witch hunt aimed at overthrowing a right-wing leader.
Israel signed separate agreements with the Gulf states and the United States joined the 3 to sign a joint document known as the AbrahamIc Agreements, which the White House called a “declaration of peace. “
The Israel-Bahrain deal would involve several embassies, Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, told Reuters news agency.
Four versions of the agreements were signed, one in English, one in Hebrew and two in Arabic.
Some differences persist despite the warming of ties. Trump said Tuesday that he would have no challenge in promoting complex F-35 stealth fighter jets in the United Arab Emirates, which have long sought them out. made it clear that he still opposes such a sale.
Frustrated by the Palestinians’ refusal to participate in Trump’s Middle East peace initiative, the White House tried to circumvent them in the hope that the agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain would be used as incentives, if not leverages, for peace talks.
Driven by the “normalization” of ties between Arab states and Israel, fractured Palestinian political factions are diligently participating in multilateral talks to fix unity and fix the Gaza Strip-West Bank department in more promising negotiations than previous efforts.
Palestinian leaders, who have accused Trump of pro-Israel prejudice, have denounced Arab rapprochement with Israel as a betrayal of his cause.
In exchange for normalization with the United Arab Emirates, Netanyahu agreed to suspend a plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank.
Palestinians see the new agreements as a weakening of a long-standing pan-Arab position calling for Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories and acceptance of Palestinian state status in exchange for a general position with Arab countries.
Although negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians failed for the last time in 2014, some Arab Gulf states and several Arab countries have long maintained quiet and casual contacts with Israel.
Qatari government spokesman said normalization with Israel “cannot be the answer” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Fatah, Hamas and the factions are gathering after the “backshed” of Arab states by agreements with Israel.
The letter calls for the liberation of occupied Palestine and states that normalization with Israel is a “betrayal. “
A clause in the UNITED Arab Emirates-Bahrain agreements with Israel leaves “the door open” for Jewish prayer in the sacred place, analysts say.
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