Palestinian officials condemn normalization of Arab-Israeli ties
Several Palestinian officials have denounced recent attempts to normalize relations between Tel Aviv and Arab countries following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rare visit to Oman.
The Gaza-based Hamas resistance movement blasted Oman for hosting “the head of Zionist crime," saying the trip accelerated "normalization with the Israeli entity" and was a "stab in the back" for Palestinians.
It also warned that the visit would have “grave repercussions on the Palestinians and their just cause.”
The resistance group further called on Arab countries to maintain their policy of boycotting Israel and “isolating the Zionist entity, which poses a threat to Palestine and the entire region.”
Meanwhile, Mohammad Shtayyeh, an adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and member of the central committee of the Fatah movement, said the visit signaled the death of the Arab peace initiative, which was endorsed by the Arab League in 2002.
The initiative calls for normalizing ties with Israel in exchange for the regime's withdrawal to the pre-1967 Arab borders.
"The value system and the Arab political and social pact don't exist anymore," Shtayyeh said in a statement. "It is the start of a public normalization and the end of the Arab peace initiative."
Separately on Saturday, Hassan Khreisheh, deputy speaker of the Palestinian parliament, lamented an "unprecedented haste by Arab countries to normalize ties with Israel."
Senior Fatah official Munir al-Jaghoub warned that Netanyahu’s visit to Oman “eliminates the Arab peace initiative."
“Fatah strongly condemns the gratuitous normalization with the occupation while Israel still doesn’t recognize the rights of the Palestinians and Arabs,” he added.
Netanyahu met with Oman's Sultan Qaboos in Muscat on Thursday, but it was kept secret until after the Israeli premier returned to the occupied territories.
The visit to Muscat was the first by an Israeli prime minister since 1996.
Tel Aviv has full diplomatic relations with only two Arab states, Egypt and Jordan but reports suggest the regime is working behind the scenes to establish formal contact with Saudi Arabia and its allies.
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