Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas seemed to be taken by surprise by the Israel-UAE deal and was holding meetings with key aides. He has refused all political dealings with the Trump administration for more than two years, accusing it of taking a consistently pro-Israel stance.
Abbas denounced Israel’s accord with the United Arab Emirates in a statement issued by his spokesman on Thursday night.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a senior adviser to Abbas, reading from a statement on Palestine TV in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, said the deal was a “betrayal of Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa and the Palestinian cause” and a recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The statement urged the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to assemble to “reject” the deal, adding “neither the UAE nor any other party has the right to speak in the name of the Palestinian people.”
Much use was made of the word “normalisation” – a term that has very different connotations on either side.
For Israel and the White House it signified a welcome rapprochement with a key Gulf player in a region from which Israel has long been isolated, aside from two peace treaties with its immediate neighbours Egypt and Jordan.
But for many Palestinians, the word has overwhelmingly negative connotations.
(Source: Reuters London)
