Palestinians Seek To Halt Warming Of Israel Ties With Arabian States
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By gowidenews
gowidenews.blogspot.com
Palestinians seek to halt warming of Israeli ties with Arab states
11/27/2018
8:14:24 AM
UPDATED ON
11/27/2018
8:15:08 AM
(photo credit: Gowidenews)
Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the UAE were all in favor Trump's scrapping the Iran nuclear deal
The Palestinian Authority (PA) is concerned by Israel’s warming of ties with Arab states and is reportedly looking to convene emergency sessions of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), in order to push back against a series of surprising developments.
The PA reportedly views such progress in relations with Israel as contravening principles encompassed in various Arab and Islamic coalition resolutions.
Israel’s latest rapprochement with Muslim countries came this week with the historic visit of President Deby from the Republic of Chad to the Jewish state -- the first by a leader of the Muslim-majority west African nation since the establishment of the Jewish State in 1948.
Recent reports suggest that Israel is working to establish diplomatic ties with Bahrain and Sudan, following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit last month to Oman.
“There will be more such visits in Arab countries very soon,” Netanyahu said this week in a press conference alongside Chadian President Idriss Déby.
On Monday, Israel’s Minister of the Economy Eli Cohen said in an interview with Army radio, according to Reuters, that he had been personally invited to attend a conference in Bahrain in April next year.
The PA considers these moves an affront to its cause in the conflict with Israel, arguing that any conciliation with the Jewish state by Arab countries requires Palestinian partnership in the form of a bilateral agreement.
"What we have been seeing in recent weeks – beginning with Netanyahu's visit to Oman and the visit to Israel by the president of Chad, and now there is talk of Bahrain and Sudan and ties of one kind or another with Saudi Arabia – raises question marks, and there is therefore a need to clarify the Arab and Islamic position," adviser to PA President Mahmoud Abbas and former Palestinian foreign minister Nabil Sha'ath reportedly told Haaretz.
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Sha’ath specifically alluded to various resolutions and declarations issued by the Arab League and Organization of Islamic Cooperation summits.
"There are a number of Arab and Islamic resolutions and declarations stating explicitly that there will be no process of normalization with Israel without a resolution of the Palestinian issue based on the Arab Peace Initiative and decisions of the international community.”
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, who has also cultivated amicable ties with the United States’ Trump administration and has defended Israel’s right to exist, is visiting the gulf island Kingdom of Bahrain this week, both part of Sunni Muslim countries threatened by the increasing influence of Iran’s shiite influence in the region.
Sha'ath reportedly told Haaretz that while recent developments between various Arab states and Israel do not constitute diplomatic relations, he still sees them as "the beginning of a worrisome process that needs to be stopped."
He said that efforts were being made to address the Palestinian concern within Arab alliances, but at the same time the focus recently has been on mending the rift between the PA and Hamas -- something which he accused the US and Israel of exploiting to sow greater division among Palestinians and in the region.
"In Israel, and also in the United States, they are exploiting the opening presented by the [internal] Palestinian rift to draw closer to Arab and Islamic countries," Sha’ath said.
Israel, along with Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates were all in favor of US President Donald Trump's decision in May to scrap the Iran nuclear accord.
"A few minutes ago we discussed in my office the great changes that are taking place in the Arab world in its relations with Israel,” said Netanyahu following his meeting with the Chadian president. “And this was manifested in my recent visit in Oman with Sultan Qaboos. And there will be more such visits in Arab countries very soon.”
Israel and Chad have not had formal relations since the 1970's, when the Arab-Israeli conflict drove a wedge between Israel and African countries -- many of which were embroiled in liberation struggles of their own.
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Déby’s historic visit, according to a report by Israel’s Channel 10 news on Sunday, was meant to lay the groundwork for establishing normalized relations with other Muslim-majority African nations including Sudan, Mali and Niger.
Déby's visit comes amid an intense diplomatic push made by Netanyahu in recent years to expand relations with African countries.
He has traveled three times to Africa over the last two years, visiting Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Uganda and Liberia.
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