[ad_1]
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated Sunday {that a} deal to set up full diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates proves that Israel doesn’t want to retreat from occupied land sought by the Palestinians so as to obtain peace and normalization with Arab states.
Israel and the UAE introduced Thursday they have been establishing full diplomatic relations in a U.S.-brokered deal that required Israel to halt its contentious plan to annex occupied West Bank land sought by the Palestinians. Netanyahu has insisted the annexation plans are solely on “temporary hold” on the request of the United States.
The UAE, like many of the Arab world, lengthy rejected official diplomatic ties with Israel, saying recognition ought to solely are available return for concessions in peace talks. Its accord with Israel breaks that long-held tenet and will usher in agreements with different Arab states, undermining an Arab consensus that was a uncommon supply of leverage for the Palestinians.
“According to the Palestinians, and to many others in the world who agreed with them, peace can’t be reached without conceding to the Palestinians’ demands, including uprooting settlements, dividing Jerusalem and withdrawal to 1967 lines,” Netanyahu stated in a video assertion. “No more. This concept of ‘peace through withdrawal and weakness’ has passed from the world.”
The Palestinians need the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip for their hoped-for state, and peacemaking with them for the reason that 1990s has been based mostly on withdrawal from these lands to make approach for a Palestinian homeland. Israel captured the territories within the 1967 Mideast warfare, though it withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005.
But what has been a wall of Arab help for the Palestinians and their calls for has begun to crack in recent times, largely due to the shared enmity of Israel and different Arab states towards Iran and Iranian proxies within the area.
The Palestinians bristled at Netanyahu’s remarks.
“Peace should be established on the basis of the Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital. This is the Arab and international consensus and anything else has no value,” stated Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Netanyahu additionally reiterated Sunday his interpretation of the UAE deal: that annexation was solely being suspended and that it was nonetheless on the desk, as long as it was carried out in coordination with Washington. UAE officers have indicated that the deal means annexation has been shelved fully.
After President Donald Trump launched his Mideast plan earlier this 12 months, which was favorable to Israel, Netanyahu stated he would forge forward with annexing elements of the West Bank. Netanyahu backed away from transferring ahead with annexation final month within the face of fierce worldwide opposition and misgivings by White House officers.
But Netanyahu, who has seen his recognition plummet over his dealing with of the coronavirus disaster, has confronted searing criticism from settler leaders and their representatives in parliament over the annexation backtrack, and he has tried to reassure them that he stays dedicated to the transfer.
[ad_2]
Source hyperlink