PALESTINIANS in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank rose up in anger to denounce the normalisation deals signed in Washington yesterday afternoon between Israel, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Both the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Hamas movement, which governs the Gaza Strip, have condemned the US-brokered accords as a ‘stab in the back’ for the Palestinian people.
The UAE and Bahrain foreign ministers signed the agreement with Israel at the White House in Washington establishing full ties at a ceremony attended by US President Trump.
The signing is in complete violation of the Arab Peace Initiative.
Israel signed two separate documents – one, the ‘peace treaty’ with the UAE, and the other, a declaration of intent to make peace with Bahrain.
The UAE and Bahrain were represented by their respective foreign ministers, Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani.
The Trump administration is pushing Sudan to be next to ‘normalise relations with Israel’.
In a tweet yesterday morning before the signing, Trump said: ‘We’re not finished yet. All coming together like a highly complex, but beautiful, puzzle!’
Hundreds of Palestinians rallied in several West Bank cities yesterday against the signing of the normalisation agreements.
They demonstrated in Nablus, Jenin, Tulkarm and Hebron, hoisting the Palestinian flag and holding signs denouncing the normalisation agreements with Israel.
Speakers at the rallies also condemned them as a stab in the back of the Palestinian people and cause, and a deviation from the long-standing position of the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002, which said that the Arab and Islamic nations will normalise relations with Israel only after it ends its occupation of the Palestinian territory, and an independent Palestinian state is established.
A central mass rally took place in Ramallah, to coincide with the signing of the agreement.
Protest activities also took place in various cities around the world, but mainly outside the White House in Washington by pro-Palestinian opponents of the agreements.
- Activists fighting for Palestinian rights occupied the roof of an Israeli-owned arms factory on Monday in protest at the UK’s involvement in producing weapons used by Israel to kill Palestinians.
The protesters from the Palestine Action Group poured red paint down the walls of the UAV Engines factory at Shenstone in Staffordshire to represent the blood of Palestinians shed in Israeli attacks.
The company is a subsidiary of Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit and makes parts for military drones.
