Gargash said at a press conference that delegations from the two countries will meet in the coming weeks to sign agreements in areas such as investment, direct flights, security and cooperation in the fight against the coronavirus, before finally leading to the establishment of embassies. The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement stressing that as a member of the United Nations Security Council and the Middle East Quartet, it supports the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The signing ceremony took place on 26 October 1994 at the Arabah southern border crossing. Jordan was the second Arab country after Egypt to sign a peace agreement with Israel. [2] A joint statement by Trump, Netanyahu and Zayed said: “This historic diplomatic breakthrough will advance peace in the Middle East region and is a testament to the bold diplomacy and vision of the three leaders and the courage of the UAE and Israel to embark on a new path that will unlock the great potential of the region.” [24] The UAE said it would continue to support the Palestinian people and that the agreement would maintain the prospect of a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine. Despite the deal, however, Netanyahu said Israel`s claim to sovereignty over the Jordan Valley was still on the agenda and was only frozen for now. [24] In the months leading up to the deal, Israel had secretly worked with the UAE to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. European media reported that the Mossad had quietly stocked up on health supplies from the Gulf states. [21] [22] Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, reported in late June 2020 that the two countries were cooperating in the fight against the coronavirus and that Mossad chief Yossi Cohen had visited the UAE several times. However, the UAE appeared to downplay this a few hours later, revealing that it was simply an agreement between private companies and not at the state level.
[23] Palestinian nervousness will increase after Bahrain joins the agreement. Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said the deal should be followed by Israel`s abandonment of any plan to annex parts of the West Bank, and if the deal could lead to its withdrawal from the Palestinian territories, it would bring the Middle East closer to peace. Otherwise, it would only exacerbate the Arab-Israeli conflict. [88] Hanan Ashrawi, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), criticized the deal, writing on Twitter: “Israel has been rewarded for not openly declaring what it has done illegally and persistently to Palestine since the beginning of the occupation.” [6] Fatah accused the UAE of ignoring “its national, religious and humanitarian duties” to the Palestinian people, while Hamas said it was a “treacherous stab in the back of the Palestinian people”[6] and claimed that the agreement was a “gratuitous reward” for Israeli “crimes and violations against the Palestinian people.” [40] In October 2018, Jordan notified Israel of its intention not to renew the land leased under Annex I of the agreement. The annex granted Jordan the right not to renew the lease of Naharayim (Baqoura) and Tzofar/Al Ghamr after 25 years, as a termination takes place one year earlier. [25] In Israel, development came at a dangerous time for the Lord. Netanyahu, who heads a fragile and divided coalition government and is on trial for corruption. His annexation promise, made several times in the last three elections, had left him in a box after Mr. Kushner resisted his progress without working on Mr. Trump`s official peace plan. But shortly after Thursday`s deal, Netanyahu and his domestic rivals announced that they had made progress in coalition talks. But the “Abraham Agreement,” as the Israel-UAE deal is called, is a significant shift in the balance of power in the Middle East and is portrayed by the Trump White House as a major blow in foreign policy.
Amira Hass wrote that the deal was the product of the Palestinian Authority`s continued neglect in its relations with the Uae. According to Hass, diplomatic relations were severed by the PLO in 2012 to reject the UAE`s good relations with Mohammed Dahlan, the political enemy of PLO President Mahmoud Abbas. The ANP`s hostility to the UAE continued until June 2020, when the PLO refused aid sent by the UAE during the COVID-19 pandemic on the grounds that it had been sent without prior consent and through an Israeli airport. Hatred is a PLO that cares more about domestic politics than governance, contributing to economic decline and strained foreign relations. [164] However, the impetus for Thursday`s deal dates back to about the same time that Yousef al-Otaiba, the UAE`s ambassador to the United States who worked closely with the Trump administration, wrote an editorial in the popular Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot in which he directly called on Israelis not to annex the occupied territory in Hebrew. “This is a black day in the history of Palestine,” Ahmad Majdalani, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization`s Executive Committee, said in an interview shortly before the Palestinian ambassador to the EMIRATES was recalled in protest. “This agreement is a complete departure from the Arab consensus. The Palestinian people have not allowed anyone to make concessions to Israel in exchange for anything. According to Hannu Juusola [fi] of the University of Helsinki, the agreement meant that the Palestinians would think the UAE would put its own interests ahead of those of the Palestinians, who had always assumed that Arab countries would not sign peace treaties with Israel until Palestinian rights were guaranteed.
[34] Ordinary Palestinians protested the deal on social media, and some also insulted the UAE. Meanwhile, Abbas Zaki, a member of Fatah`s Central Committee, called the agreement a violation of the Arab consensus on how to deal with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He accused the UAE of betraying Arabs and Palestinians before urging the ANP to step down its UAE ambassador, and also called on the Arab League to cancel the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative. [68] Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi said the agreement would pave the way for peace agreements with other countries and welcomed the suspension of unilateral annexation. Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid hailed the deal as an “important step” for normalization with the UAE, saying it showed that mutual agreements were the way forward for Israel`s relations with other nations, rather than unilateral measures such as annexation. Israeli Labor Party leader Amir Peretz also shared the view, saying Israel`s development and security lie in such agreements. He hoped for a similar deal with the Palestinians. [37] According to the EMIRATI government, the agreement “immediately” ends Israeli plans to annex parts of the West Bank and offers Israel and the Palestinians the opportunity to resume negotiations to end their conflict. .