US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that “five or six” other Arabcountries were also poised to normalise ties with Israel, as the UnitedArab Emirates and Bahrain ink a historic peace deal with Tel Aviv today.
“We’re very far down the road with about five countries, five additionalcountries,” Trump said as he hosted Israeli Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu in the Oval Office, ahead of a signing ceremony with both Arabstates for the US-brokered peace deal.
“We’ll have at least five or six countries coming along very quickly, we’realready talking to them,” Trump said.
Trump did not name the additional countries, but hinted during separatebilateral talks with UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan thatSaudi Arabia may be on board without saying so specifically.
“We’ve had great talks with Saudi Arabia. I think their mind is very open,”said Trump who also met with Bahrain Foreign Minister Abdullatif al-Zayaniahead of the signing ceremony.
For the Mideast, the deals dubbed the Abraham Accords mark a distinct shiftin a decades-old status quo where Arab countries have tried to maintainunity against Israel over its treatment of the stateless Palestinians.
“After decades of division and conflict we mark the dawn of a new MiddleEast,” Trump said as the signing ceremony began.
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Palestinian leaders have urged demonstrations in the occupied territoriesand outside embassies of the United States, Israel, Bahrain and the UAE toprotest what they called “shameful agreements.”
Trump nonetheless voiced confidence the Palestinians would eventually signon to the US-brokered peace agreements — which he hopes will boost hisreelection chances in November.
“The Palestinians will absolutely be a member. I don’t say that with anybravado, I just tell you the Palestinians will be a member at the righttime,” Trump said.
The White House event will be the first time Arab nations have establishedrelations with Israel since Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994.
Hundreds of people were invited to attend and a symbolic handshake betweenthe Arab representatives and Netanyahu has not been ruled out. -AFP
