Ramallah, August 13 (RHC)-- Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have reached a deal that will lead to a full normalization of diplomatic relations between the two sides, in an agreement that U.S. President Donald Trump apparently helped broker.
Under the agreement announced on Thursday, Israel has allegedly agreed to suspend applying its own rule to further areas in the occupied West Bank and the strategic Jordan Valley that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had pledged to annex, senior White House officials told Reuters.
Trump, in a tweet, called the agreement a "HUGE breakthrough," describing it as a "historic peace agreement between our two GREAT friends." Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also tweeted that the deal marked "a historic day."
The deal, however, has elicited sharp negative reactions from various Palestinian groups as well as their supporters from across the world.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement reacted rapidly by condemning the deal between the UAE and Israel.
The movement noted that normalization of ties between Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi was a sign of submission on the latter’s part without having any effect on reducing conflicts in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Islamic Jihad movement also noted that the deal will, on the other hand, further embolden the Israeli occupiers.
Meanwhile, senior Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi accused the United Arab Emirates of "normalization" with Israel after Thursday's announcement of the so-called peace deal. Ashrawi, who is a member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said on Twitter, "The UAE has come out in the open on its secret dealings/normalization with Israel. Please don't do us a favor. We are nobody's fig leaf!"
The spokesman for the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, Fauzi Barhum said the normalization of ties between the UAE and Israel is a gratis reward for occupiers in return for their crimes and violations of Palestinian’s rights.
Sarah Leah Whitson, a pro-Palestinian activist, also took to Twitter to condemn the deal, saying it would not lead to any recognition of Palestinians’ rights. “Israel won't formally annex and exercise sovereignty over the land it has for all intents and purposes already annexed and exercises sovereignty over... ZERO for the rights of Palestinians,” she wrote.
