UAE, Bahrain activists highlight public resentment of deals with Israel

Emirati campaigners and Bahraini NGOs have expressed their opposition to the US-brokered deals that the two Arab kingdoms have signed to establish formal relations with the occupying Israeli regime in a betrayal of fellow Palestinians.

US President Donald Trump presided over the signing of the normalization agreements between Israel and the two Persian Gulf Arab countries. During a ceremony at the White House, Trump said “five or six” other countries were close to making similar deals with Israel, but did not name them. 

However, people in Palestine and other Muslim states rejected the peace treaties with Israel, which has been shunned because of its decades-long occupation of the Palestinian territories.

According to Turkey’s Anadolu news agency, 17 NGOs in Bahrain, along with the General Federation of Workers Trade Unions, stressed that normalization accords with Israel would not bring about peace.

“All forms of normalization with the Zionist entity initiated by some countries have neither produced peace nor restored the usurped rights of the Palestinian people,” they said in a statement.

The deals “encouraged the enemy (Israel) to commit more crimes against Palestine and the holy Arab and Muslim sites, foremost of which is holy Jerusalem [al-Quds],” it added.

They also reiterated their commitment “to the constants of the Bahraini people regarding the just Palestinian cause and the provisions of the constitution that criminalize normalization with the Zionist entity.”

“What is known as a peace treaty between Bahrain and the Zionist enemy under the auspices of the US administration has brought about tremendous shock, resentment and widespread popular rejection among the Bahraini people, their political forces, civil society institutions and all national actors and personalities,” the NGOs concluded.

Fury in Palestine, Bahrain over ‘deals of shame’ with Israel

Palestinians and Bahrainis react with anger to the US-mediated normalization agreements between Israel, the UAE and Bahrain.

Palestine Charter garners over 1mn signatures

In another development, over one million people signed the “Palestine Charter,” a petition launched by Emirati activists in rejection of any Arab normalization with Israel.

The Charter — published on “charterofpalestine.com/campaign” — reads, “Believing in the justice of the Palestinian cause and following my responsibility towards it, I am honored to sign the Palestine Charter, under which I affirm that Palestine is an occupied Arab state and its liberation is a duty.”

“The Zionist entity is an occupying and racist entity and a usurper of our Aqsa Mosque and the land of Palestine, and all forms of normalization is a betrayal,” it says.

The Charter has been endorsed by many pro-Palestine organizations, including the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, the Persian Gulf Coalition Against Normalization and the Emirati League Against Normalization.

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