Palestinians in Gaza on Saturday burned pictures of leaders of Israel, the United States, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates in protest of the two Gulf states’ action to normalize relations with Israel.
On Friday, Bahrain joined the UAE in agreeing to normalize relations with Israel, a move that came as soon as possible out of fear of Iran, but is a move to further isolate the Palestinians.
A few dozen people from the ruling group Hamas staged a protest in Gaza.
“We must fight the generalized virus and block all its routes before it can succeed in stopping its spread,” said Maher al-Holly, a Hamas official.
Protesters set fire to pictures of US President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and the UAE’s Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al. Nahyan.
While the United States, Israel, UAE and Bahrain consider the diplomatic move as an important step towards peace and stability. Middle East, The people of Palestine see it as a betrayal.
They fear the weakening of the long-running Pan-Arab position, which calls for the withdrawal of Israel from the occupied territories and the acceptance of a Palestinian Palestinian state in exchange for normal relations with Arab countries.
Although political tensions erupted in 2007, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose Palestinian Authority (PA) has limited control of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and his rival Hamas have united against the move by Gulf states.
‘Military alliance’
On the West Bank, Secretary-General of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Saheb Erekat, said diplomatic pressure would not be achieved if the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict could not be resolved first.
“The agreement to normalize Bahraini, Israeli, American relations is now part of a larger package in the region. It’s not about peace, it’s not about relations between countries. We are witnessing an alliance, a military alliance is being formed in the region,” Ericat said.
Iran, meanwhile, said on Saturday that Bahrain’s move would mean it would participate in Israeli policies that endanger regional security, according to a report by Iranian state television. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have said that Bahrain will face “drastic change” of its own people and Palestinians over the Gulf state’s move.
Turkey has also condemned the deal, saying it undermines Palestinian intentions and “seeks to allow Israel to continue its illegal practice … and perpetuate its occupation of Palestinian territories.”
Bahrainis stepped up their frustrations on social media on Saturday to protest their government’s agreement to establish diplomatic relations with Israel, underlining the complexities of the Gulf’s rapprochement. With Israel.
The hashtags #Bahrinis_Bagnist_Normalization and #Normalizationbustrail were trending on Twitter after Trump announced the deal late Friday night.
Bahrain, a Sua-ruled state with a large Shiite population, shares an enmity with Israel over Iran, and is dependent on the United States, which maintains its fifth fleet on a small but strategic archipelago.
Palestinians carry placards during protests in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday [Said Khatib/AFP]
‘Black day’
Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Jaini said the deal represented a historic step towards peace in the Middle East, but the PA and Hamas called it “another blow to the back” by the Arab government.
Unlike the UAE, opposition to normalization runs deep in Bahrain, which has a history of open politics despite being suppressed for the past 10 years.
Former MP Ali Alaswad wrote that it was a “black day in Bahrain’s history.”
Russia – a small archipelago between regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran – has been rocked by unrest since 2011 when security forces crushed Shiite-led protests.
Opposition group al-Wefaq criticized the normalization deal.
“The agreement between the despotic regime and the Zionist-occupied government in Bahrain is a complete betrayal of Islam and Arabism and a break with Islamic, Arab and national consensus,” he said on Twitter.
Bahrain and other anti-government groups based abroad have expressed outrage in statements sent to the media calling the deal a shame.
‘Dispersing Unity’
Sari Nusibih, former top P.L.O. The official said there was Palestinian leadership “Very upset.”
“But I don’t think they are more upset about the Arab world in general than they have been in the past. Palestinians always complain that the Arab world is not behind them because they have it,” he said. Nusibih.
The Palestinian cause had already become less central, as the area has been shaken by the Arab Spring upheaval, the war in Syria and the bloody invasion by the armed group ISIS.
At the same time, hostilities between Saudi Arabia and Iran have intensified.
“There are all kinds of problems in the Arab world – conflicts, revolutions, civil wars, tensions between different Arab countries,” said Gassan Khatib, a Palestinian analyst. “The Palestinian people are now paying the price for deteriorating Arab unity.”
The PA maintains the notion of so-called “Arab consent” and rejects the notion of isolation. The consensus has long been that Arab states will normalize relations only if Israel meets a number of conditions.
One demand is for Israel to withdraw from the territories it captured in the 1967 Six-Day War.
Another is to agree with a Palestinian state East Jerusalem As its capital, and third to find a just solution for the millions of Palestinian refugees and their descendants.
“We hope that the Arab countries will remain committed to this consensus,” said Jibril Rajoub, a senior Palestinian official.
“Those who violate the Arab consensus … will be left alone,” he warned.
Palestinians condemn normalization of Israeli-Bahraini relations in Gaza [Mahmud Hams/AFP]
Choosing sides
A Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, shared the view that “Palestine is not really the way to go” at the moment.
“It’s also stuck because of people who want to support their cause, whether it’s Turkey or Iran.”
Iran already has ties with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and slightly colder ties with the PA.
The Palestinian cause has also received support from Turkey, a regional power increasingly at odds with Israel and militarily supporting rival factions in the Libyan war against the UAE and Egypt.
Galia Lindenstras, of Israel’s National Security Research Institute, said Turkey has ambitions to lead the cause and is pointing the finger at both Arab states and Western hypocrites for not giving enough weight to the issue.
“We are not ignoring any country. Turkey is a regional superpower, it is an Islamic country and we are on good terms. We will continue to co-operate with everyone,” he said.
But Khatib argued that the Palestinians should keep their distance. He said it was not wise to capture the Palestinian people in regional tensions and competition between regional superpowers.
“If you side with Iran, you will lose Saudi Arabia. If you are with Turkey, you will lose someone else. It is better for the Palestinian people to keep a safe distance from these different regional superpowers.”
.
