Palestinians slam UAE-Israel treaty as 'stab in the back'

The historic peace deal announced Thursday between the United Arab Emirates and Israel earned widespread condemnation from the Palestinian factions and Iran, saying that the Gulf country had "betrayed" the Palestinian people by forging official ties with the Jewish state.

The agreement is the product of lengthy negotiations between the US, Israel, and the UAE, which has now become the third Arab country overall to normalize relations with Israel, following Egypt and Jordan.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas denounced the accord in a statement saying, "The Palestinian leadership rejects and denounces the UAE, Israeli and US trilateral, surprising, announcement."

Senior Abbas aide Nabil Abu Rudeineh said the deal was a "betrayal of Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa and the Palestinian cause."

Hamas, the terrorist group that controls the Gaza Strip, accused the UAE of "stabbing the Palestinians in the back" by signing a treaty with Israel.

The agreement "does nothing to serve the Palestinian cause and ignores the rights of the Palestinian people. ... The US-Israeli-Emirati agreement is dangerous and represents a 'free reward' for the Israeli occupation for its crimes and violations of the Palestinian people's human rights," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said.

"We condemn every form of normalization with the occupation. The Israeli enemy benefits from it. Normalization will encourage it to commit more crimes and violations of our people's rights and their holy places."

The Gaza-based Palestinian Islamic Jihad warned that normalization was tantamount to "surrender," adding the deal "won't change the reality of the conflict."

Islamic Jihad leader Mohammed al-Hindi called the treaty "a political, moral and strategic downfall" on the part of Abu Dhabi.

The Fatah movement said the deal showed that the UAE "is flouting its national, religious, and humanitarian duties toward the Palestinian cause."

"Israel got rewarded for not declaring openly what it's been doing to Palestine illegally & persistently since the beginning of the occupation," veteran Palestinian lawmaker Hanan Ashrawi tweeded, adding that the UAE "has come forward with its secret dealings/normalization with Israel."

Other Palestinian officials said they had no prior knowledge of the agreement.

"Israel has annexed the United Arab Emirates instead of annexing the West Bank," a senior Palestinian official told local media. "This is a very dangerous development that requires a Palestinian response as well as a reposne from the entire Arab world."

Abbas Zaki, member of the Fatah Central Committee, said that the Israel-UAE constitutes "a breach of the Arab consensus and a betrayal of the Arab countries and Palestine."

The Popular Resistance Committees, a terrorist group based in Gaza, said that deal showed "a vast conspiracy against the Palestinian people."

Iran's Tasnim news agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic republic's Revolutionary Guards, slammed the deal as "shameful."

Egyptian President Abdel Fatah el-Sissi welcomed the peact treaty, saying, "I followed with interest and appreciation the joint statement between the United States, United Arab Emirates and Israel to halt the Israeli annexation of Palestinian lands and taking steps to bring peace in the Middle East. I value the efforts of those in charge of the deal to achieve prosperity and stability for our region."

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!