Iran has said the establishment of diplomatic ties between its arch-rival Israel and the United Arab Emirates is a "dagger in the back" of all Muslims, while Turkey said the UAE had "betrayed" the Palestinian cause.
Iran called the deal a "dagger in the back" of all Muslims and an act of "strategic stupidity" by the UAE, according to Iran's foreign ministry statement.
In separate remarks, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif slammed the deal as a "theater" fabricated by the US.
"They (US) think that by fabricating the theater like the one that happened yesterday, unfortunately, that they can determine the fate of Palestine," Zarif said in televised comments during a visit to Lebanon.
Hezbollah leader warns other Arab states could follow suit
A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday the deal amounts to "treason,'' and should be reversed.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a statement supporting the Palestinian administration, saying that the "history and the conscience" of the region's people will not forget and never forgive the "hypocritical behavior" of the United Arab Emirates in agreeing to a deal with Israel.
"While betraying the Palestinian cause to serve its narrow interests, the UAE is trying to present this as a kind of act of self-sacrifice for Palestine," the foreign ministry said.
The head of Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah militia, Hassan Nasrallah, also slammed the deal as a betrayal of Palestinians and a "stab in the back."
Speaking on Lebanese television, Nasrallah said the deal was done as a favor to US President Donald Trump who needed "an achievement" ahead of the November elections. The agreement was also a favor for a "weak" Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to the militant leader.
At the same time, Nasrallah said that several Arab countries could follow the United Arab Emirates' lead on Israel to "satisfy" Washington.
While he did not provide details, some have speculated that US allies Bahrain and Oman might be next in line. Both Gulf nations have welcomed the deal between the UAE and Israel.
Ex-Israeli envoy says deal 'disgraceful'
Former Israeli ambassador to Germany, Avi Primor, slammed the deal in a DW interview over its treatment of Palestinians.
"That what is offered to Palestinians in there is — I am going to say this carefully — disgraceful," said Primor, who served in Berlin between 1993 and 1999.
"They are not getting a state, they are getting some fragmented land — surrounded by Israel, without full rights, so actually a fragmented autonomy. And they may not get even that," he said.
"This is of course very disappointing and very bitter," Primor added.
Alignment against Iran?
Part of Washington's Middle East strategy under President Donald Trump has been to contain Iran by promoting diplomatic ties between Israel and the US' Gulf-state allies.
In its statement Friday, Tehran warned the UAE against allowing Israel to interfere in the "political equations" of the Persian Gulf region.
For over half a century, disputes between Israelis and Palestinians over land, refugees and holy sites remain unresolved. DW gives you a short history of when the conflict flared and when attempts were made to end it.
UN Security Council Resolution 242, 1967
United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, passed on November 22, 1967, called for the exchange of land for peace. Since then, many of the attempts to establish peace in the region have referred to 242. The resolution was written in accordance with Chapter VI of the UN Charter, under which resolutions are recommendations, not orders.
Image: Getty Images/Keystone
Camp David Accords, 1978
A coalition of Arab states, led by Egypt and Syria, fought Israel in the Yom Kippur or October War in October 1973. The conflict eventually led to the secret peace talks that yielded two agreements after 12 days. This picture from March 26, 1979, shows Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, his US counterpart Jimmy Carter and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin after signing the accords in Washington.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/B. Daugherty
The Madrid Conference, 1991
The US and the former Soviet Union came together to organize a conference in the Spanish capital. The discussions involved Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the Palestinians — not from the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) — who met with Israeli negotiators for the first time. While the conference achieved little, it did create the framework for later, more productive talks.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Hollander
Oslo I Accord, 1993
The negotiations in Norway between Israel and the PLO, the first direct meeting between the two parties, resulted in the Oslo I Accord. The agreement was signed in the US in September 1993. It demanded that Israeli troops withdraw from West Bank and Gaza Strip and a self-governing, interim Palestinian authority be set up for a five-year transitional period. A second accord was signed in 1995.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Sachs
Camp David Summit Meeting, 2000
US President Bill Clinton invited Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat to the retreat in July 2000 to discuss borders, security, settlements, refugees and Jerusalem. Despite the negotiations being more detailed than ever before, no agreement was concluded. The failure to reach a consensus at Camp David was followed by renewed Palestinian uprising, the Second Intifada.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/R. Edmonds
The Arab Peace Initiative, 2002
The Camp David negotiations were followed first by meetings in Washington and then in Cairo and Taba, Egypt — all without results. Later the Arab League proposed the Arab Peace Initiative in Beirut in March 2002. The plan called on Israel to withdraw to pre-1967 borders so that a Palestinian state could be set up in the West Bank and Gaza. In return, Arab countries would agree to recognize Israel.
Image: Getty Images/C. Kealy
The Roadmap, 2003
The US, EU, Russia and the UN worked together as the Middle East Quartet to develop a road map to peace. While Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas accepted the text, his Israeli counterpart Ariel Sharon had more reservations with the wording. The timetable called for a final agreement on a two-state solution to be reached in 2005. Unfortunately, it was never implemented.
Image: Getty Iamges/AFP/J. Aruri
Annapolis, 2007
In 2007, US President George W. Bush hosted a conference in Annapolis, Maryland, to relaunch the peace process. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas took part in talks with officials from the Quartet and over a dozen Arab states. It was agreed that further negotiations would be held with the goal of reaching a peace deal by the end of 2008.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Thew
Washington, 2010
In 2010, US Middle East Envoy George Mitchell convinced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to and implement a 10-month moratorium on settlements in disputed territories. Later, Netanyahu and Abbas agreed to relaunch direct negotiations to resolve all issues. Negotiations began in Washington in September 2010, but within weeks there was a deadlock.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Milner
Cycle of escalation and ceasefire continues
A new round of violence broke out in and around Gaza in late 2012. A ceasefire was reached between Israel and those in power in the Gaza Strip, which held until June 2014. The kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in June 2014 resulted in renewed violence and eventually led to the Israeli military operation Protective Edge. It ended with a ceasefire on August 26, 2014.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Paris summit, 2017
Envoys from over 70 countries gathered in Paris, France, to discuss the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Netanyahu slammed the discussions as "rigged" against his country. Neither Israeli nor Palestinian representatives attended the summit. "A two-state solution is the only possible one," French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said at the opening of the event.
Image: Reuters/T. Samson
Deteriorating relations in 2017
Despite the year's optimistic opening, 2017 brought further stagnation in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. A deadly summer attack on Israeli police at the Temple Mount, a site holy to both Jews and Muslims, sparked deadly clashes. Then US President Donald Trump's plan to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem prompted Palestinian leader Abbas to say "the measures ... undermine all peace efforts."
Image: Reuters/A. Awad
Trump's peace plan backfires, 2020
US President Donald Trump presented a peace plan that freezes Israeli settlement construction but retains Israeli control over most of the illegal settlements it has already built. The plan would double Palestinian-controlled territory but asks Palestinians to cross a red line and accept the previously constructed West Bank settlements as Israeli territory. Palestinians reject the plan.
Image: Reuters/M. Salem
Conflict reignites in 2021
Plans to evict four families and give their homes in East Jerusalem to Jewish settlers led to escalating violence in May 2021. Hamas fired over 2,000 rockets at Israel, and Israeli military airstrikes razed buildings in the Gaza Strip. The international community, including Germany's Foreign Ministry, called for an end to the violence and both sides to return to the negotiating table.
Image: Mahmud Hams/AFP
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The UAE has been growing its commercial and military clout in the Gulf region. For example, Abu Dhabi has been a leading member of the Saudi Arabia-led coalition opposing Tehran-aligned Houthi rebels in Yemen's civil war.
Who supports the deal?
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Friday he congratulated his Israeli counterpart, Gabi Ashkenaz, on taking a "historic step" and welcomed Israel's suspension of annexation plans. Maas said the move could give a "new impetus" towards peace in the Middle East.
Speaking to Reuters, Spain's Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya also said it was important to "use this context to give an impulse to the negotiations between Israel and Palestine" based on the two-state principle.
The agreement makes the UAE the first Gulf Arab state, and the third Arab country following Egypt and Jordan, to establish full diplomatic ties with Israel.
In Thursday's announcement, Israel and the UAE said deals including travel, trade, embassies and security cooperation are expected in the coming weeks.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi praised the deal for "halting Israel's annexation of Palestinian land, and said he hoped it would bring "peace."
Jordan said Thursday that the deal's impact on the peace process depends on the actions Israel will take. Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safad said Israel must end its "illegal actions" and its "violations of Palestinian rights".
As part of the deal, Israel pledged to suspend annexation of Palestinian lands, although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later stressed that does not necessarily mean Israel will abandon plans to annex the Jordan Valley and Jewish settlements across the occupied West Bank.
US President Trump said he would host the Israeli and UAE leaders at the White House for the signing of the deal in around three weeks.
