WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump announced Thursday that the United Arab Emirates and Israel agreed to repair diplomatic relations, a historic agreement, and a rare foreign policy victory for the president in an election year.
As a component of the agreement, Israel agreed to finalize its questionable plan to annex parts of the West Bank, a land that Palestinians consider important to their long-term state hopes.
In a statement through the White House, the two governments said the deal was reached during an appeal Thursday between Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed, Abu Dhabi’s crown prince.
The package said that countries “have accepted the complete normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates” and that the two countries will signal a number of bilateral agreements on everything from investment to tourism and security.
In a couple of tweets, Netanyahu called it a “historic day,” while Bin Zayed Israel’s agreement to “stop Israel’s continuation of the annexation of the Palestinian territories.”
With the suspension of the annexation plan, Israel, on the other hand, will “focus its efforts now on expanding ties with other countries in the Arab and Muslim world,” the package said.
Trump officials and other experts said the deal could usher in a broader rapprochement between Israel and its Arab neighbors.
“Israel’s broader acceptance in the region is smart for Israel and smart for America’s interests in the Middle East, and we expect other countries to follow,” the Israeli Political Forum, an organization aimed at strengthening the United States for two-state solutions, said Thursday in a statement. .
The agreement makes the United Arab Emirates the third Arab country to have active diplomacy with Israel. The other two are Egypt and Jordan.
“This is a big historic step,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told journalists who traveled with him to Europe. “That’s good news.”
Pompeo argued that progression may simply bring to life Trump’s Middle East peace plan, which had been dead dead upon his arrival.
“I hope the Palestinians see this for what is Array … a historical fact for the Middle East to be solid and peaceful,” Pompeo said.
Trump’s middle east peace plan passed a “two-state”: an independent Palestinian state throughout Israel. This has been a hallmark of Israeli-Palestinian peace projects for years, however, Trump’s commitment to this has been an open question.
Trump’s proposal also necessarily gave the green tone to Netanyahu’s plan to annex up to 30% of the occupied West Bank, and sought to restrict Palestinians from expressing parts of East Jerusalem and leaving Israel alone guilty for the holy sites that are sacred to both sides.
Israel and the Arab Gulf countries have maintained discreet relationships for years, according to Omar Rahman, a visiting scholar at the Brookings Doha Center, an expert group.
But Arab leaders have been reluctant to publicizing concerns about alienating Palestinians and stoking the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he wrote in a 2019 investigation into relations between Israel and the Arab Gulf. A 2002 Arab peace initiative provided that Arab countries would normalize their relations with Israel in exchange for the return of the territory that Israel took in 1967, among other concessions.
It’s also “great news for Iran,” Bremmer said in a tweet.
Mark Dubowitz, an Iranian radical and director of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, agrees.
“The peace agreement between the United Arab Emirates and Israel is an ordinary advance that will bring even more opportunities for regional peace and prosperity in its wake. The mullahs in Iran are the only losers,” Dubowitz said.
Although deeply divided on the fate of the Palestinians, Israel and the Gulf States express their fear at Iran’s growing influence in the region.
More: Trump presents ”century’s ” for middle peace in the Middle East
Trump hastily told reporters in the Oval Office minutes after the United Arab Emirates and Israel would signal a peace deal. He said he hoped other countries in the region would keep up.
“What we’re seeing is a new Middle East,” said Brian Hook, State Department’s special envoy for Iran.
Former presidential envoy Brett McGurk is a “historic decision” for the region.
“Contacts have been maintained for years,” he tweeted. “It takes courage to take this last step. Diplomacy works.”
The White House announced the on social media.
“This is the ultimate step towards peace in the Middle East in a quarter of a century,” said press officer Kayleigh McEnany.