Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday evening welcomed a new agreement to normalize relations between Israel and an Arab country, Bahrain, an initiative that was immediately criticized by the Palestinian political class.
“Citizens of Israel, I am moved to inform you that tonight we will reach another peace agreement with another Arab country, Bahrain.
This agreement adds to the historic peace with the United Arab Emirates, ”
said Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement and video message in Hebrew.
See also
- Donald Trump announces normalization of relations between Bahrain and Israel
Read also: Bahrain establishes diplomatic relations with Israel
Since the beginning of the evening, rumors have multiplied in the Israeli media about this normalization agreement, the second in a month with a Gulf country, and the fourth with an Arab country after Egypt (1979) and Jordan (1994). ).
“It took us 26 years to reach a second to a third peace agreement (...) but 29 days to reach a peace agreement between the third and the fourth Arab state.
And there will be others.
It is a new era of peace, ”
added Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel and the United Arab Emirates announced on August 13 an agreement to normalize their relationship to be signed Tuesday in Washington, sponsor of this rapprochement between the Jewish state and the Gulf monarchies who share a common enmity against Iran.
The agreement between Israel and the Emirates aims to bring these two Middle Eastern economies closer together with commercial flights between the two countries, and cross-investments in the sectors of high technology, agriculture, tourism and energy.
"Stab"
A small Gulf oil monarchy, Bahrain was notably represented in Washington at the end of January during the ceremony announcing the Trump administration's plan for the Middle East, which provides for the normalization of relations between Arab countries and Israel, annexation parts of the West Bank occupied by the Hebrew state and the creation of a Palestinian state in a small area.
Saeb Erekat, the Palestinians' chief negotiator, announced the recall of the Palestinian ambassador to Bahrain.
"The agreement between Bahrain and Israel is a stab in the back of the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people,"
Ahmad Majdalani, Minister of Social Affairs of the Palestinian Authority
,
told AFP.
"This is an aggression against our people (...) which constitutes a serious prejudice to the Palestinian cause"
, added the Islamist movement Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory of two million inhabitants. .
This agreement with Bahrain would not have been possible without the support of Saudi Arabia, said in Ramallah, a senior Palestinian official requesting anonymity.
Leader of the Arab Gulf monarchies, Saudi Arabia has not announced any normalization of its relations with Israel but confirmed in early September that it would allow flights between the Emirates and Israel to cross its airspace.
In the past, the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was seen as a sine qua non for the normalization of relations between Israel and the rest of the Arab world.
But in recent years, Israel and the United States have tried to convince actors in the region to turn the equation and normalize their relations with the Jewish state without prior Israeli-Palestinian peace, which ulcerates the Palestinian leadership.
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