Israel's normalization deals with the UAE and Bahrain will not bring peace to the Middle East. If anything, they will only embolden oppressive regimes and encourage abuses of international law. 1/ https://twitter.com/nytpolitics/status/1304963525643771905

Israel and UAE/Bahrain were never in a state of war to begin with- both countries are not even officially declared enemy states under Israeli law. 2/

Despite these agreements, Israel will continue to breach int'l law as an illegitimate occupying power denying millions of Palestinians their basic human rights. If not a U.S. ally, it would likely have been subject to economic sanctions and arms embargo. 3/

Israel has a long record of supporting oppressive regimes including the apartheid regime in South Africa. These agreements are nothing but alliances to protect Gulf leaders who have blood on their hands and countries that operate in the shadows and outside of int'l law. 4/

Like the 'peace deals' with Egypt and Jordan, the recent normalization deals most likely don't have the support of the majority of the people in the UAE and Bahrain who don't democratically elect their rulers. 5/

As many commentators pointed out, Israel has had secret relations and security cooperation with Gulf countries for many years. These symbolic deals only formalize and expand those relations to the public. 6/

The timing isn't coincidental. The deals represent a convergence of interests between corrupted and authoritarian rulers. Trump desperately wants to boost his abysmal foreign policy record and especially his failure to restart negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. 7/

Netanyahu is facing mounting pressure at home to resign for his failure to adequately address COVID-19 and the consequent economic crisis all while on trial for very serious charges of corruption. 8/

And the leaders of the Gulf states want to assure American guarantees before the November elections. They fear that Biden, if elected, will reinstate the Iran deal and be critical regarding their domestic human rights records and the catastrophic war on Yemen. 9/

It's not the first time that Arab monarchs or autocrats throw the Palestinian people under the bus. A unified Palestinian leadership must offer clear vision and strategy to resist the new US/Israel/Gulf alliances which aim to marginalize the Palestinian struggle for freedom. END