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| - Israel and the UAE agreed Thursday to normalise ties in a landmark US-brokered deal, only the third such accord the Jewish state has struck with an Arab nation, in which it pledged to halt annexation of Palestinian lands. The bombshell news was first announced by US President Donald Trump who tweeted about the "HUGE breakthrough", calling it a "Historic Peace Agreement between our two GREAT friends". Establishing diplomatic ties between Israel and Washington's Middle East allies, including the oil-rich Gulf monarchies, is a key goal of Trump's regional strategy to contain Iran, which is also an arch-foe of Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was a "historic day" and launched a "new era" for the Arab world and Israel, but he also raised questions about its long-term impact on Israel's conflict with the Palestinians. A statement by the three nations' leaders said "Israel will suspend declaring sovereignty" over occupied Palestinian West Bank areas -- an idea that had been proposed in Trump's controversial earlier plan to resolve the conflict. The UAE's leader Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan quickly stressed in a tweet that "during a call with President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu, an agreement was reached to stop further Israeli annexation of Palestinian territories". However, Netanyahu then said in a national television address that he had only agreed to delay annexations in the occupied West Bank, that the plans remained "on the table" and that he would "never give up our rights to our land". The controversial Trump plan, unveiled in January, had offered a path for Israel to annex territory and Jewish West Bank settlements, communities considered illegal under international law. It was rejected outright as biased and untenable by the Palestinians and by Israel's Arab neighbours, and raised fears it would escalate regional tension. Israel has had difficult and sometimes violent relations with the Muslim and Arab world since its founding in 1948, with most states ruling out relations until the Israeli-Palestinian dispute is resolved. Thursday's deal would make the UAE only the third Arab country Israel has established diplomatic relations with after its peace deals with former wartime enemies Egypt and Jordan. However Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which runs the coastal Gaza Strip, quickly said the agreement "does not serve the Palestinian cause". Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas convened an "urgent meeting" of his top leadership to discuss the announcement. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt, which signed a treaty with Israel in 1979 to opposition from across the Arab world, praised the deal "concerning the halt of Israel's annexation of Palestinian land," and said he hoped it would bring "peace" to the Middle East. The announcement marks a major foreign policy achievement for Trump as he heads into a difficult campaign for re-election in November. Trump suggested to reporters that more diplomatic breakthroughs between Israel and Arab countries in the region were expected but gave no further details. "Things are happening that I can't talk about," he said. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described it as "a historic day and a significant step forward for peace in the Middle East". "The United States hopes that this brave step will be the first in a series of agreements that ends 72 years of hostilities in the region," Pompeo said. The agreement would be signed at the White House at a future date, Pompeo said. Richard Hass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, told AFP the deal was "a milestone in Arab acceptance of Israel in the region". It was also be "a brake on annexation, which would jeopardise Israel's peace with Jordan and Israel's own future as a Jewish, democratic state", he said. In their joint statement, Trump, Netanyahu and Prince Mohammed said they had spoken on Thursday "and agreed to the full normalisation of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates". "At the request of President Trump with the support of the United Arab Emirates, Israel will suspend declaring sovereignty over areas outlined in the President's Vision for Peace and focus its efforts now on expanding ties with other countries in the Arab and Muslim world," the statement said. Israeli and UAE delegations will meet in the coming weeks to discuss investment, tourism, direct flights, security and the establishment of reciprocal embassies, they said. The trio were confident of further similar deals with other countries, the statement added. The UAE's minister of state for foreign affairs Anwar Gargash told a media briefing that "most countries will see this as a bold step to secure a two-state solution, allowing time for negotiations". Aaron David Miller, a veteran US negotiator on the Middle East peace process and analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, called it a "win for all". "(The) UAE says it's prevented annexation; US prevents annexation too and gets big breakthrough and Netanyahu gets enormous win and off hook from the annexation trap," he tweeted. burs-gw/fz
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