WASHINGTON: The UAE and Bahrain signed agreements to normalise relations with Israel in Washington in a strategic realignment of Middle Eastern countries against Iran.
At the US-brokered event held at the White House, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed agreements with Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani.
The deals make them the third and fourth Arab states to take such steps to normalise ties since Israel signed peace treaties with Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994.
“The people of the Middle East will no longer allow hatred of Israel to be fomented as an excuse for radicalism or extremism,” Trump said at the White House ceremony.
“And they’ll no longer allow the great destiny of their region to be denied.”
Dramatic month
The signing ceremony caps a dramatic month when first the UAE and then Bahrain agreed to normalise relations with Israel without a resolution of Israel’s decades-old conflict with the Palestinians.
“This peace will eventually expand to include other Arab states. And ultimately, it can end the Arab-Israeli conflict, once and for all,” Netanyahu said.
Ammar Hijazi, assistant minister of multilateral affairs for the Palestinian Authority, said the signing of the accords was “a sad day”.
“The only path for peace for the Palestinians is ending this brutal Israeli occupation and granting the Palestinians their inalienable rights for self-determination. Without that there is no path to peace in the region,” Hijazi told Al Jazeera.
Hijazi called the White House signing ceremony a “photo op” that “only crowns Israel as the policeman of the region” and paves the way for more US weapons sales to the region.
Improbable diplomatic victory
The back-to-back agreements mark an improbable diplomatic victory for Trump. He has spent his presidency forecasting deals on such intractable problems as North Korea’s nuclear programme only to find actual achievements elusive.
Meanwhile, more than 200,000 Arab social media users have signed the “Palestine Charter”, a document rejecting the Arab states’ normalisation of relations with Israel.
The text of the charter states: “Believing in the justice of the Palestinian cause and following my responsibility towards it, I am honoured to sign the Palestine Charter, through which I affirm that Palestine is an occupied Arab state and its liberation is a duty.
“The Zionist entity is an occupying, racist and usurping entity of our Al-Aqsa Mosque and the land of Palestine, and normalisation with it in all its forms is a betrayal.”
“I’m Alia from Saudi Arabia, and I am honoured to sign the Palestine Charter,” one Twitter user said. “I invite you all to sign and share the link with your followers, family and loved ones.”
The charter is endorsed by more than 20 pro-Palestinian organisations, including the BDS movement and the Gulf Coalition Against Normalisation.