EICRI BRUSSELS – President Donald J. Trump, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, and Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the United Arab Emirates spoke today and agreed to the full normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. The Arab and Muslim World have reacted fiercly on the “worst Arab deal of the century”, according to one of our recent poll among muslim inhabitants accross the world.
According top members of our panel, the agreement, signed this week by Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in which the two countries agreed to a “full normalization of relations” in return for Israel suspending moves to formally annex parts of the West Bank, has reminded the Palestinians that they cannot count on the Arab states to deliver their freedom or safeguard their rights.
Diplomatic wires: UAE leads, Bahrain, Oman and Saudi-Arabia to follow
EICRI has learned that other GCC-countries will soon follow the UAE’s footsteps to normalize the relations between Israël. The Saudi minister of Culture and Information, Adel al-Toraifi has called the peace deal a “historic decision.”. “It’s time for the members of the Gulf Coöperation Council to urge the Palestinians to drop the “terrorism” of Hamas and to strive to build a modern state.”
Morocco has not officially responded to the situation and is not expected to react. Meanwhile, Turkey and Iran have respectively called the deal “a show of hypocritical behaviour” and “utter strategic stupidness”.
A short roundup of GCC and Arab countries’s official statements on normalizing ties with Israël is as follow:
- UAE: Established, brokered
- Bahrain: Positive, possible to follow
- Oman: Positive, possible to follow
- Egypt: Established since 1980
- Saudi Arabia: Welcomed normalization
- Morocco: Neutral views
- Qatar: Opposes the normalization
- Turkey: Opposes the normalization
- Iran: Seeks normalization
- Iraq: Opposes the normalization
- Jordan: Established, gen pop opposes
- Sudan: Seeking normalization with Israël
- Lebanon: Opposes the normalization
- Kuwait: Opposes the normalization
- Algeria: Deal a ‘crime’
Leading Muslim figures ‘not amused’ by the Emirati decision to coöperate with Israël
The agreement has been condemned by leading Muslim and Palestinians across the political spectrum. Dr. Yasir Qadhi tweeted the following to his half a million followers on Twitter:
Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, Palestinian, Member of the PLO Executive Committee, reacted fiercly on Mohamed Bin Zayid’s tweet in which he stated that: “During a call with President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu, an agreement was reached to stop further Israeli annexation of Palestinian territories. The UAE and Israel also agreed to cooperation and setting a roadmap towards establishing a bilateral relationship.”
Western countries welcome Abu Dhabi’s decision
Several Western (European) countries have welcomed the decision by the United Arab Emirates. The Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, Belgium and France have all positively expressed themselves about the topic.
The anti-Islamic “Freedom Party” of Geert Wilder in the Netherlands has also welcomed the decision. Raymond de Roon, the party’s spokes person of foreign affairs has called the decision “spectacular”
The White House expresses gratitude towards the UAE
According to the White House, the deal could bring a solution to the “Palestinian issue” closer.
“This normalization of relations and peaceful diplomacy will bring together two of America’s most reliable and capable regional partners. Israel and the United Arab Emirates will join with the United States to launch a Strategic Agenda for the Middle East to expand diplomatic, trade, and security cooperation.”