JERUSALEM: The Palestinian Authority and Hamas both condemned the Israeli-Bahraini normalisation deal as another “stab in the back” by an Arab state and act of “aggression” against their people.

The agreement was “a stab in the back of the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people,” like the UAE-Israel deal announced last month, Ahmad Majdalani, social affairs minister in the West Bank-based PA, said.

Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, said it was an “aggression” that dealt “serious prejudice” to the Palestinian cause.

In Cairo, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi hailed the “historic” normalisation deal between Israel and Bahrain.

“I hail this important step aimed at consolidating stability and peace in the Middle East, which will achieve a just and permanent solution to the Palestinian cause,” Sisi said in a tweet.

Sisi also thanked “all those who helped achieve this historic step”.

In Amman, Jordan’s foreign minister Ayman Safadi said in a statement that the necessary steps to achieve a fair and comprehensive peace in the region should come from Israel.

The minister added Israel should stop all its procedures to undermine the two-states solution, and end the illegal occupation of Palestinian lands.

The United Arab Emirates also welcomed the decision by Bahrain and Israel to establish relations, which it said it hoped would have a positive effect on the climate for peace and cooperation in the region and around the world.

“The move represents a significant step towards an era of security and prosperity ... (and) would expand the scope of economic, cultural, scientific, and diplomatic avenues of cooperation,” the UAE foreign ministry said in a statement.

The UAE will on Sept 15 normalise ties with Israel, which was announced last month. Bahrain and Israel will sign a declaration the same day.

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2020