Palestinians Denounce Bahrain-Israel Normalization Deal
On Friday, US President Donald Trump tweeted that the tiny Persian Gulf state of Bahrain had agreed to join the UAE in striking what he called a peace agreement to normalize relations with Tel Aviv, hailing the deal as yet another “HISTORIC breakthrough.”
The White House said Trump had tweeted out the news after speaking by phone to Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The American president also attached to a separate tweet a joint statement, whereby the three had agreed on and expressed commitment to “the establishment of full diplomatic relations between Israel and the Kingdom of Bahrain.”
Back on August 13, the UAE and Israel announced a US-brokered deal that laid the groundwork for the full normalization of their relations. The agreement met with uniform condemnation of all Palestinian factions, who called it a stab in the back of the Palestinians and sheer betrayal of their cause.
Later on Friday, the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA), led by President Mahmoud Abbas, strongly denounced the Israel-Bahrain deal, Press TV reported.
In a statement, carried by Palestine's official Wafa news agency, the PA strongly rejected the Israel-Bahrain deal and slammed it as a “token of support for legitimizing the ugly crimes of the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people.”
It also stressed that it viewed “this step as extremely dangerous, as it blows up the Arab Peace Initiative, the resolutions of the Arab and Islamic summits, and international legitimacy.”
The Palestinian leadership also strongly urged Manama to immediately break the agreement with the occupying regime since it would “gravely harm the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people and joint Arab action.”
The PA concluded that peace and stability in the region would only achieved by putting an end to the Israeli occupation of all Palestinian and Arab lands.
Separately, Ahmad Majdalani, the social affairs minister in the PA, lambasted the deal as “a stab in the back of the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people.”
On Friday evening, Palestine’s Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki announced that Palestine has decided to immediately summon its ambassador to Bahrain for consultations on the necessary steps in response to the Israel-Bahrain deal.
Abbas has already stressed that no peace would be achieved in the region by bypassing the Palestinian Arabs in favor of normalization of ties between the Arab states and the Israeli regime.
Additionally on Friday, Hanan Ashrawi, member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), denounced the deal in a statement carried by Wafa news agency.
“The US administration has used all its political and economic might to extort, pressure, and bully Arab and other states to normalize Israeli colonization and trample on foundational principles of international law, including the tacit endorsement of the war crime of annexation,” she said.
Ashrawi also stressed that the path to real peace must be founded on mutual respect and adherence to international law.
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