U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement that Bahrain was joining the fellow Arab Gulf state of United Arab Emirates (UAE) in normalizing diplomatic relations with Israel left the Palestinian leadership and its supporters shell shocked.
The enraged Palestinian Authority, which controls the so-called West Bank, recalled its ambassador to Bahrain following the White House announcement, news reports confirm.
“The Palestinian leadership rejects and strongly condemns the normalization agreement between Israel and Bahrain – urges Bahrain to retract its decision,” Israeli-Arab journalist Khaled Abu Toameh tweeted citing Palestinian sources.
“The UAE and Bahrain are contributing to Trump’s presidential campaign at the expense of the inalienable rights of the people of Palestine,” Palestinian Authority’s (PA) chief negotiator Saeb Erekat decried. The restoration of peace between Arab states and Israel was “a stab in the back of the Palestinian cause,” Ahmad Majdalani, the PA Social Affairs Minister, claimed.
Gaza-based terrorist group Hamas agreed with the POL-controlled Palestinian Authority. The Islamic terrorists condemned the deal which it saw as part of President Trump’s ‘Deal of the Century,’ also known as the Trump Peace Plan unveiled earlier this year. “Joining these countries to the path of normalization make them complicit with the Deal of the Century which is an aggression on our people,” the Hamas spokesman declared on Friday referring to Bahrain and the UAE.
While leading Arab countries like Egypt and the UAE welcomed the Israel-Bahrain peace deal, Iran and Turkey sided with Palestinian leaders.
“Tehran is displeased at Bahrain’s decision to normalise diplomatic relations with Israel in a deal brokered by the Trump administration,” the British newspaper Independent reported. “The rulers of Bahrain will from now on be complicit in the crimes of the Zionist regime, which is a threat to the security of the region and the Muslim world,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif responded.
Previously, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the regime’s military wing and a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, had threatened the UAE with terror attacks for normalizing ties with Israel.
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry “strongly condemned” the move towards peace. “The step will be a fresh blow to efforts to defend the Palestinian cause,” the ministry claimed in a statement.
Less than a month after the UAE signed a landmark peace agreement with the Jewish state, Bahrain became the second Arab Gulf country to join the President Trump-brokered move to normalize Israeli-Arab relations. The last such accord was signed 26 years ago when Jordan endorsed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994. Bahrain on Friday became the fourth Arab country to establish full diplomatic ties with Israel.
“This is a truly historic day,” President Trump said in a statement delivered from the Oval Office. Israel and Bahrain “will exchange embassies and ambassadors, begin direct flights between their countries, and launch cooperation initiatives across a broad range of sectors, including health, business, technology, education, security, and agriculture,” he added emphasizing the significance of the historic agreement.
“It took 26 years to get from the second peace agreement with an Arab country to the third agreement, and it took not 26 years but 29 days to go from the third peace agreement with an Arab country to the fourth, and there will be more,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged.
According to Friday’s agreement, Bahrain will be joining Israel and the UAE at the White House signing ceremony next Tuesday.
The mainstream media shared the anger expressed by the Palestinian leaders and their allies.
The peace deal “isolates the Palestinians,” the New York Times complained, “as Mr. Trump tries to position himself as a peacemaker before the elections in November.”
CNN anchor Don Lemon mocked President Trump for his latest foreign policy achievement. “Wonder why he wants a Nobel Prize so badly. … Oh, you know who has one, right? President Barack Obama!” he said.
Leading mainstream media outlets tried to downplay or outright ignore the historic White House announcement. “The most-watched programs on CNN and MSNBC on Friday night completely ignored President Trump’s foreign policy achievement of brokering a peace deal between Israel and Bahrain,” Fox News reported.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY