Iran and Turkey have accused the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of abandoning the Palestinians, following the country’s controversial peace deal with Israel.
The Iranian foreign ministry denounced the deal as an act of “strategic stupidity from Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv”.
“The oppressed people of Palestine and all the free nations of the world will never forgive the normalising of relations with the criminal Israeli occupation regime and the complicity in its crimes,” a ministry statement said.
Calling “Abu Dhabi’s shameful move” dangerous, Tehran warned against any Israeli interference in the Gulf and said “the government of the Emirates and other accompanying states must accept responsibility for all the consequences” of the agreement.
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced to reporters in Istanbul today that Turkey will be considering closing its embassy in Abu Dhabi and suspending diplomatic ties with the UAE over its accord to normalise ties with Israel, according to Hurriyet Daily News.
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This came after Turkey’s foreign ministry said in a statement that the Palestinians’ strong negative response to the deal was justified.
“History and the conscience of the region’s peoples will not forget and never forgive this hypocritical behaviour of the UAE, betraying the Palestinian cause for the sake of its narrow interests,” it said in a statement.
The UAE administration “has no authority to negotiate with Israel on behalf of Palestine without consent from its people and administration regarding vital matters.”
The ministry added, “It is extremely worrying that the UAE should, with a unilateral action, try and do away with the [2002] Arab Peace Plan developed by the Arab League. It is not in the slightest credible that this three-way declaration should be presented as supporting the Palestinian cause.”
The UAE is the first Gulf Arab state and the third Arab nation – after Egypt and Jordan – to announce active ties with Israel on Thursday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed “a new era” between Israel and the Arab world following the deal with the UAE.