“After decades of division and conflict, we are witnessing the dawn of a new Middle East. ” The American president thus welcomed, Tuesday, September 15, the signing of historic agreements of understanding between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, during a ceremony organized with great pomp at the White House. The signing of these agreements marks the formal re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the three countries, and the first diplomatic breakthrough of this type since the peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan in 1979 and 1994.
These agreements “Can end the Arab-Israeli conflict” and constitute a “Turning point in history” of the region, commented Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu from Washington.
Without naming them, the American president also declared that “Seven or eight countries” additional arabs, “Including large”, were about to conclude ” very soon ” agreements to normalize their relations with Israel. “I think Israel is no longer isolated”, he commented. “I spoke with the King of Saudi Arabia” and his country will follow ” in good time “ this same movement, added Donald Trump later.
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Netanyahu thanks Trump
In front of the assistance provided, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the head of the Israeli government was not stingy with compliments towards his “Friend” Donald Trump, before launching, in Arabic, to his new interlocutors: “Assalamu Alaykum” (” May peace be with you “). On the other hand, he remained silent on the fate of the Palestinians, who were largely absent from this Tuesday, even if the ministers of the Emirates and Bahrain recalled their cause.
Saluting “A change in the heart of the Middle East”, the Emirati Foreign Minister, Sheikh Abdallah Ben Zayed Al-Nahyane, thus personally thanked Benyamin Netanyahu “For having chosen peace and for having stopped the annexation of Palestinian territories” – even if the latter ensures that it is only a postponement.
Bahraini chief diplomat Abdel Latif Al-Zayani clearly called for a “Two-state solution” to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Palestinian opposition protests
The Palestinians denounce a “Stab in the back” on behalf of these countries which they accuse of making a pact with the Hebrew State without waiting for the birth of their State. For the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, there will be no “No peace” in the Middle East without “End of the occupation” Israeli and “Respect for the full rights of the Palestinian people. “
In Gaza and the West Bank, hundreds of demonstrators mobilized against the agreement signed in Washington, which they believe is a “Betrayal” to their cause. Waving Palestinian flags, protesters gathered in the cities of Nablus and Hebron, in the northern and southern occupied West Bank, and in the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip.
They were a few hundred at the end of the afternoon in Ramallah, seat of the Palestinian Authority. “No to normalization with the occupant” Israeli, “The agreements of shame” or “Betrayal”, could we read on banners.
“We tell the Bahraini regime and the Emirates that this normalization is a total betrayal of the Palestinian cause and the hopes of the Arab nation”, said Ahmad Al-Medalal, a leader of the Islamic Jihad armed group in Gaza. “The Palestinian people are united to face this project, which will bring you nothing but misfortune”said Abu Mujahed, spokesperson for the Palestinian resistance committee in the Palestinian enclave.
Rocket fire
According to the Israeli army, two rockets were fired on Tuesday evening from the Gaza Strip. One was intercepted by the Israeli missile shield and the second fell on the city of Ashdod, located between the Gaza Strip and the metropolis of Tel Aviv, according to local rescue services, which report at at least two minor injuries.
None of the Palestinian factions established in the Gaza Strip claimed responsibility for the shooting.
