Israel, UAE announce US-brokered deal to normalize relations – Under the deal, Israel has agreed to suspend plans to annex the West Bank.
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : DONALD TRUMP’S GREAT GIFT FOR ISRAEL & MID EAST
Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with leaders of Israel and the UAE announcing a peace agreement to establish diplomatic ties with Israel and the UAE, in the Oval Office of the White House on August 13, 2020, in Washington, DC. Al-Monitor Staff Aug 13, 2020
Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) reached a historic US-brokered peace deal on Thursday to fully normalize diplomatic relations between the two Middle Eastern nations.
Praising the breakthrough as one that will advance Middle East peace and “unlock the great potential in the region,” a joint statement released by the White House said that Israel would suspend declaring sovereignty to parts of the West Bank as planned under the Donald Trump administration’s controversial Middle East peace plan. Rather than pursue an annexation pledge widely criticized by the international community, Israel will for now focus on expanding ties with Arab nations, the statement said.
Prior to now, Israel had no formal diplomatic ties with Arab countries in the Gulf. In the coming weeks, Israeli and Emirati delegations will meet to sign bilateral agreements on investment, tourism, direct flights, security and other areas, in addition to setting up reciprocal embassies, the statement said.
The deal was sealed in a phone call Thursday between President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince and de facto UAE ruler Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The UAE and Israel will also join the United States in launching a “Strategic Agenda for the Middle East,” focusing on diplomatic, trade and security cooperation.
The deal hands Trump a significant diplomatic victory heading into November’s presidential election. In a statement, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called Thursday’s news a “remarkable achievement.”
The agreement, Pompeo said, “reflects their shared regional vision of an economically integrated region. It also illustrates their commitment to confronting common threats, as small — but strong — nations. … Blessed are the peacemakers. Mabruk and mazal tov.”
The agreement makes the UAE only the third Arab country to normalize ties with Israel, following Egypt’s peace deal in 1979 and one with Jordan in 1994. During the Oval Office announcement on Thursday, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman said the deal would be referred to as the Abraham Accord, named after the “father of all three great faiths.”
Senior Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi blasted the UAE on Twitter for its “secret dealings” with Israel, adding that “Israel got rewarded for not declaring openly what it’s been doing to Palestine.”
A senior Israeli official told Reuters that plans to annex the West Bank, which Palestinians envision as part of their future state, were only “temporarily suspended.”
Read more: https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/08/uae-israel-us-trump-mbz-netanyahu-deal-historic-peace-west-b.html#ixzz6V1oyTpIW