Agreement between Israel and the Emirates: no one can speak "on behalf of the Palestinian people", says Abbas

No one can speak

President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday evening, referring to the UAE's decision to normalize relations with Israel, at an unprecedented meeting of Palestinian factions, including Hamas.

The United Arab Emirates and Israel announced a Washington-sponsored deal on August 13 to normalize their relations.

The Palestinians accuse Abu Dhabi of betrayal and violation of the Arab consensus which made the settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a prerequisite for the normalization of relations with the Jewish state.

Read also: Mahmoud Abbas threatens again to break with Israel

"We cannot accept that we speak on our behalf, we have never allowed it and will never allow it",

declared the Palestinian president, during this meeting, the first bringing together Mahmoud Abbas and the head of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, since 2013. Mahmoud Abbas was speaking by videoconference from his offices in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, while the leader of Hamas, a rival movement of Mr. Abbas, as well as the tenor of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Ziad Nakhalé, were speaking from Beirut, Lebanon.

Abbas calls for Palestinian "unity"

"We will not accept the United States as the sole mediator for negotiations and we will not accept their plan"

for the Middle East, Mahmoud Abbas continued, calling for

Palestinian

in the face of the American strategy.

This plan, presented in January, notably provides for the annexation by the Jewish state of parts of the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 by the Israeli army, and the creation of a Palestinian state on a reduced territory.

Palestinians have an

to make decisions about what concerns them, added Mahmoud Abbas.

The annexation project was abandoned by Israel in exchange for the agreement to normalize its relations with the Emirates, according to Abu Dhabi.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his part spoke of a simple "postponement" and indicated that he had not

The secular Fatah of Mahmoud Abbas and the Islamist Hamas, respectively in power in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip, had assured in early July, during a rare joint press conference, wanting to open

face of the Trump plan.

"We must restore our national unity, end the division and establish a unified Palestinian position (...) in order to confront the projects directed against our people,"

Ismail Haniyeh said Thursday, referring to the issue of normalization of relations. between Israel and Arab countries.

US Foreign Minister Mike Pompeo made a regional tour last week in the hope of convincing other Arab countries like Sudan, Oman and Bahrain to normalize their relations with Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had told him about secret talks in this direction with other countries in the region.