The Persian Gulf state of Bahrain on Thursday welcomed the historic peace deal reached between the United Arab Emirates and Israel, saying it raised chances of regional peace, state news agency BNA reported.
Bahrain praised the United States for its efforts towards securing the deal, which will see Jerusalem and Abu Dhabi forge full diplomatic ties.
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The peace deal made the UAE the first Persian Gulf sheikdom to forge official diplomatic relations with Israel and the third Arab country overall to normalize relations with the Jewish state, following of Egypt and Jordan.
Manama's endorsement of the deal – and a remark by White House senior adviser Jared Kushner to reporters that "there is a chance" that another Arab state would sign a peace deal with Israel in the coming weeks – have prompted Arab media to report that the country in question is Bahrain.
The Palestinians, who lambasted the UAE's decision to strike peace with Israel as a "betrayal of the Palestinian cause," are said to be monitoring these developments with profound concern, as they fear the accords heralds more comprehensive rapprochement between Israel and the Gulf states.
Meanwhile, Egyptian President Abdel Fatah el-Sissi welcomed the peace 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."
The Egyptian ruler, whose country was the first to sign a peace deal with Israel in 1979, was referring to reports that as part of the deal – and at the US's request – Israel has agreed to suspend its plan to extend sovereignty to parts of Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley.
Jordan, which entered into a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, also welcomed the deal, saying it could push forward stalled peace negotiations if it succeeds in prodding Israel to accept a Palestinian state.
"If Israel dealt with it as an incentive to end occupation ... it will move the region towards a just peace," Amman's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said in a statement on state media.
"Israel's failure to do this would only deepen the decades-long Arab-Israeli conflict and threaten the security of the region as a whole," Safadi said.
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