What can the Palestinians do after the agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates?

Palestinian protesters carry placards that read "Normalization is betrayal" and "Palestine is not for sale" in Gaza on August 14, 2020, after the agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. Mohammed ABED / AFP

Text by: Alice Froussard

3 min

It was necessary to look for a long time for the word "Palestinian" in the agreement signed this Thursday, August 13 between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, announcing the normalization of relations. It only appears at the end and puts the Palestinian question in the background. Neither consulted nor informed, the Palestinians see this as a betrayal. This Sunday, Saeb Erekat spoke to the press in Ramallah. It was the first speech by the Palestinian Authority. An unacceptable "agreement", denounced the secretary general of the PLO.

Publicity

Read more

"  This will definitely kill the two-state solution  ," said the famous oslo negotiator. It "  rewards Netanyahu and the extremists " and it further pushes the possibility of Israeli-Palestinian resolution and peace. In short, according to him it is a betrayal.

All the Palestinian leaders have stressed this: Hamas, joint committee of the Palestinian Authority and Hanan Ashrawi, of the executive committee of the PLO, the Palestine Liberation Organization. She had been the first to react on her Twitter account, wishing the Emirati Prince MBZ "  never to feel the pain of living under occupation, to never see the demolition of his house or the murder of those they love, and above all never to be sold by his "friends"  ”.

Avoid the domino effect

Faced with this rapprochement, the Palestinians' room for maneuver is quite low. Ramallah tries to alert: an emergency meeting of the Arab League has been requested but there is still no response. The Arab League itself is too divided . There is also no real condemnation of this UAE-Israel rapprochement on the part of the Arab world.

However, the Palestinians want to remain optimistic, and Saeb Erekat, the secretary general of the PLO, says he is doing everything to avoid the domino effect: that other Gulf countries do the same. He wrote to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, making sure they are in favor of a two-state solution and that the Palestinian issue is not totally eclipsed.

Unity between Fatah and Hamas

A final solution would be the reconciliation of the enemy factions, Fatah and Hamas. We have seen this in every event that threatened the establishment of a hypothetical Palestinian state. For example, when Donald Trump unveiled the famous Middle East peace project in January, or just before July 1, when annexation could be proclaimed by Netanyahu and Fatah and Hamas had organized a joint conference.

With the Emirates, it's the same. This Thursday evening, the head of the political bureau of Hamas Ismaël Haniyeh contacted the president of the Palestinian Authority precisely to try to find a common path in the face of this normalization which "  sacrifices  " the Palestinian cause. A little as if, faced with the admission of weakness, there was a desire for unity.

► To read also: Peace agreement between Israel and the Emirates: Palestine feels "betrayed"

Newsletter Receive all international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_FR

  • Israel
  • Palestinian territories
  • United Arab Emirates

On the same subject

Arab countries divided over Israel-United Arab Emirates deal

TRNHAITI

Israel / United Arab Emirates agreement: a diplomatic victory for Donald Trump

Peace agreement between Israel and the Emirates: Palestine feels "betrayed"