Israel hailed today its agreement to fully normalize relations with the UAE, which was mediated by the United States, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the agreement as "a great day for peace."
It is scheduled that the Israeli Prime Minister will hold a press conference at a later time to provide further clarifications on the agreement. Netanyahu suddenly left a cabinet meeting on the emerging corona virus crisis, and said that he should "take care of a matter of great importance for the national interest" about an hour before US President Donald Trump announced the agreement to normalize relations between Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi stated that the agreement with the UAE opens the way to other similar agreements, while Ron Dermer, the Israeli ambassador to Washington, said on a tweet, "A great day for peace! Israel commends Mohammed bin Zayed's courage in making a historic decision to join the UAE to Egypt (1979) and Jordan." (1994) In making peace with Israel. Israel is deeply grateful for all that Trump has done to make this detente possible, more on the way. "
Annexation of territories
The Israeli Channel 12 reported that Tel Aviv agreed to postpone the plan to annex lands in the West Bank in exchange for normalizing relations with Abu Dhabi. However, Reuters quoted a prominent Israeli official as saying that "the application of Israeli sovereignty over areas in the West Bank is still on the table."
It is noteworthy that relations between Israel and the UAE have witnessed a great convergence in the past few years, especially after Donald Trump assumed the presidency in the United States in 2016.