Arab states welcome Israel-Sudan deal as Palestinians again cry foul

While both UAE and Egypt said they value any effort to secure regional peace and stability, both Ramallah and Gaza issue statements slamming the deal, which they claim benefits 'only Netanyahu'
AFP, Reuters|
Sudan and Israel agreed Friday to normalize relations in a U.S.-brokered deal to end decades of hostility, which was widely welcomed by a number of Arab states but once again stirred Palestinian anger.
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  • The announcement makes Sudan, technically at war with Israel since its 1948 foundation, the fifth Arab country to forge diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.
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     The leaders of Israel and Sudan
     The leaders of Israel and Sudan
    The leaders of Israel and Sudan
    (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky, Reuters)
    Here is how international reaction:
    UAE
    The United Arab Emirates, welcomed Sudan's decision to start relations with Israel, state news agency WAM reported early on Saturday citing a foreign ministry statement.
    The ministry added that Sudan's decision is "an important step to boost security and prosperity in the region... (and) would expand the scope of economic, commercial, scientific and diplomatic cooperation."
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    החתימה על ההסכמים
    החתימה על ההסכמים
    UAE delegation in Israel earlier this week
    (Photo: GPO)
    The Emirati delegation made a historic visit to Israel earlier this week to sign a host of agreements after announcing a normalization deal with the Jewish state last month.
    Egypt
    Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, whose country in 1979 became the first Arab state to make peace with Israel before Jordan also signed a peace treaty in 1994, swiftly hailed the agreement.
    "I welcome the joint efforts by the United States of America, Sudan and Israel regarding the normalization of relations between Sudan and Israel," Sisi wrote in a tweet.
    "I value all efforts aimed at achieving regional stability and peace."
    United States
    "HUGE win today for the United States and for peace in the world," tweeted U.S. President Donald Trump, who faces a November 3 election in which he is trailing in the polls, announcing the deal ahead of Sudan and Israel.
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    טראמפ בחדר הסגלגל
    טראמפ בחדר הסגלגל
    President Donald Trump's advisers announcing the Israel-Sudan deal
    (Photo: EPA)
    "Sudan has agreed to a peace and normalization agreement with Israel! With the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, that’s THREE Arab countries to have done so in only a matter of weeks. More will follow!"
    Israel
    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was an "amazing turnabout".
    "Today Khartoum says yes to peace with Israel, yes to recognition of Israel and yes to normalisation with Israel," he said in a Hebrew-language statement sent to AFP.
    Sudan
    State television in Sudan, which went to war against the Jewish state in 1948 and 1967, after which it hosted the "Three No’s" Arab summit -- no peace, no recognition, no negotiations with Israel -- said the deal aimed "to end the state of aggression".
    Palestinians
    Palestinian leaders strongly condemned the deal, echoing their rejection of Israel's normalisation accords with the UAE and Bahrain signed in Washington last month.
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    מפגינים פלסטינים
    מפגינים פלסטינים
    Palestinians protesting UAE and Bahrain over their deals with Israel
    (Photo: AFP)
    "The State of Palestine expressed today its condemnation and rejection of the deal to normalize ties with the Israeli occupation country which usurps Palestinian land," Mahmoud Abbas's office said in a statement.
    "No one has the right to speak on behalf of the Palestinian people and the Palestinian cause," it said.
    The Islamist movement Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, said the deal was a "political sin" that benefitted only the Israeli premier.
    The accord "harms our Palestinian people and their just cause, and even harms the Sudanese national interests," it said in a statement. "It benefits only Netanyahu."
    Israel's agreements with Bahrain and the UAE broke with longstanding Arab policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and were condemned by the Palestinians as a "betrayal".
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