Palestinians in Gaza burned pictures of Israeli, U.S., Bahraini and United Arab Emirates leaders on Saturday in protest over the two Gulf countries' moves to normalize ties with Israel.
Fred Katayama reports.
Palestinians in Gaza burned pictures of Israeli, U.S., Bahraini and United Arab Emirates leaders on Saturday in protest over the two Gulf countries' moves to normalize ties with Israel.
Fred Katayama reports.
Palestinians angry over moves by Bahrain and the UAE to normalize ties with Israel took their protest to the streets of Gaza, burning pictures of the leaders of those three countries as well as U.S. President Donald Trump.
The U.S. had joined the three countries in hailing the diplomatic move as a step toward Middle East peace and stability.
Palestinian Liberation Organization Secretary General Saeb Erekat said the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict has to be resolved first before peace can be achieved.
“The Bahraini-American-Israeli agreement to normalize relations is now part of a bigger package in the region.
It is not about peace, it is not about relations between countries.
We are witnessing an alliance, a military alliance being created in the region, maybe you want to call it an Arab-Israel-NATO.” The Palestinians see normalization as a betrayal.
A longstanding pan-Arab position calls for acceptance of Palestinian statehood and the Israeli withdrawal from occupied territory in exchange for normalizing relations with Arab countries.
The Palestinians fear that stance is weakening.
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