09/23/2020, 09.59
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Abraham Accords: Palestinians leave the presidency of the Arab League

At the centre of the dispute is the normalization of relations between Israel and the Emirates (and Bahrain). The decision in protest against the failure to adopt a joint rejection of this position. According to the Palestinian Foreign Minister, it "falls short of the principles and values" that inspire it.

Jerusalem (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The Palestinians have renounced control of a leading role within the Arab League, in protest against the bloc's failure to adopt a common vision contrary to the so-called "Abraham Accords".

The Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki announced the decision to resign from the rotating presidency (a position that, in rotation, is held by each of the member countries) of the Council; he stressed the failure to adopt a draft condemnation in the normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (and Bahrain).

On September 15, US President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the foreign ministers [and not the rulers, ed] of Abu Dhabi and Manama Abdullah bin Zayed and Abdullatif al-Zayani signed the agreement at the White House. An agreement defined as historic by the parties involved, and met with rockets and protests in Palestine. The Ramallah leadership has repeatedly called the agreement a "stab in the back".

"The state of Palestine... refuses to record in its history the association of its presidency with the regression in values and principles that was evident in the last meeting of the council of foreign ministers," Maliki said in the West Bank town of Ramallah. The assignment was to continue until March and, in the last summit in early September, had led to the joint signing by the 22 members of the condemnation of the normalization agreements.

In 2002 the Arab League, following a Saudi proposal, had advanced an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan (never applied) renewed later in 2017. It provides for normalization only in exchange for a complete withdrawal from the territories occupied in the Six Day War of 1967, the creation of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital and a solution for all refugees. A plan never accepted by the United States, which after announcements and delays at the beginning of the year proposed its own "peace" initiative, exalted by the Israelis and disowned by the Palestinians.

In the agreement signed last week and brokered by Washington, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) underlined the clause according to which Israel intends to suspend its annexation plans. In fact, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated at the signing that any agreement - on suspension - has a limited duration and the plans remain on the table, unchanged in form and substance.

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