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Jerusalem – On Thursday night, the Israeli parliament ratified the peace agreement between the Jewish state and the United Arab Emirates, signed last September.
During the session, 84 Israeli MPs voted to approve the deal with the Emirates, against 13 votes against, after more than eight hours of discussions. More than 100 deputies spoke, out of a total of 120 deputies.
The 13 deputies who opposed the agreement belong to the Joint Arab List.
On September 15, Israel officially signed in Washington, under the auspices of US President Donald Trump, a normalization agreement with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, making these two Gulf states the first Arab party to give this it happened after Jordan in 1994 and Egypt in 1979.
During the discussions, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “This historic agreement is the fruit of tireless efforts,” and expressed his hope that other countries in the region will sign “peace accords.”
He revealed that there had recently been contacts, for the first time, between Israel and another country in the region, which he did not mention.
In his speech, Netanyahu vigorously defended the agreement to normalize relations with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, adding: “In our region, the strong are better able to survive, the strong are respected, the strong make alliances and the weak are crushed. “
He added: “Many Arab and Islamic countries are seeking rapprochement with Israel, which was seen as an enemy for decades, and today it is seen as a strong ally, and even a vital ally.”
He continued: “Many Arab and Islamic countries are calling for a rapprochement with us, seeing our military strength and changing their attitude towards us,” denying that there are “secret annexes to the agreement with the Emirates.”
And Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the Arab representatives in the Knesset, who announced their intention to vote against the agreement, while the Arab representatives boycotted the Israeli prime minister’s speech.
Netanyahu said: “The Palestinians will eventually understand that they must recognize Israel as a Jewish state.”
The head of the Israeli opposition, Yair Lapid, praised the agreement with the United Arab Emirates, but said that Netanyahu had failed on all other issues, including Corona and the economy, when he addressed Netanyahu saying: “Mr. Prime Minister, we live here in Israel and not in the Arab Gulf. “
The US administration seeks to persuade other Arab countries to enter into peace agreements with Israel and end decades of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
