WASHINGTON • Israel and the United Arab Emirates reached a historic peace deal yesterday that will lead to a full normalisation of diplomatic relations between the two Middle Eastern nations in an agreement that US President Donald Trump helped broker.
Under the deal, Israel has agreed to suspend applying sovereignty to areas of the West Bank that it has been discussing annexing, senior White House officials told Reuters.
The peace deal was the product of lengthy talks between Israel, the UAE and the United States that accelerated recently, White House officials said. The agreement was sealed in a phone call yesterday between Mr Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
The officials described the agreement, to be known as the Abraham Accords, as the first of its kind since Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty in 1994. Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty in Washington in March 1979.
The present agreement gives Mr Trump a foreign policy success as he seeks re-election on Nov 3.
Mr Netanyahu hailed the deal as a "great day for peace".
Delegations from Israel and the UAE will meet in the coming weeks to sign bilateral agreements regarding investment, tourism, direct flights, security, telecommunications and other issues, a joint statement issued by the three leaders said.
But senior Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi accused the UAE of "normalisation" with Israel. The veteran Palestinian negotiator said on Twitter: "The UAE has come out in the open on its secret dealings/normalisation with Israel. Please don't do us a favour."
REUTERS
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