Mahmoud Abbas raps UAE-Israel agreement as “nonsense”

"We are not concerned about the nonsense that is going on here or there, particularly in the last days when a tripartite agreement was announced between the UAE, Israel and America, which is based on the normalization of relations between Israel and the UAE," Abbas said at an official meeting in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on Tuesday.

In his first public remarks since the US-sponsored deal was announced last week, Abbas also accused Abu Dhabi of turning its back on Palestinians who have long been living under occupation in the West Bank and an Israeli-led blockade in the Gaza Strip.

"They (the UAE) have turned their backs on everything: the rights of the Palestinian people, the Palestinian state, the two-state solution, and the holy city of Jerusalem [al-Quds]," Abbas added.

Israel and the UAE on August 13 reached a deal that will lead to full normalization of diplomatic relations between the two sides, in an agreement apparently brokered by US President Donald Trump.

Under the agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Israel has allegedly agreed to "temporarily" suspend applying its own rule to further areas in the occupied West Bank and the strategic Jordan Valley that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had pledged to annex.

Israeli and UAE delegations will meet in the coming weeks to sign bilateral agreements covering sectors, including investment, tourism and direct flights and the opening of reciprocal embassies, according to the accord.

Anger is boiling in the Middle East and elsewhere over the agreement, with Palestinian leaders describing it as a “stab in the back” of the Palestinians by an Arab country.