The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain signed ladmark agreements on Tuesday for normalizing relations with Israel.
US President Donald Trump hosted the White House ceremony, capping a dramatic month when first the UAE and then Bahrain agreed to reverse decades of ill will without a resolution of Israel's decades-old dispute with the Palestinians.
In front of a crowd of several hundred people on the White House lawn, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed accords with Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan and Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Dr. Abdul Latif al-Zayani.
The deals, denounced by the Palestinians, make them the third and fourth Arab states to take such steps to normalize ties since Israel signed peace treaties with Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994.
“We’re here this afternoon to change the course of history,” Trump said from a balcony overlooking the South Lawn at the White House. “After decades of division and conflict, we mark the dawn of a new Middle East.”
“Today, we are already witnessing a change in the heart of the Middle East — a change that will send hope around the world,” al-Nahyan said.
In addition to the bilateral agreements signed by Israel, the UAE and Bahrain, all three are signing a document dubbed the “Abraham Accords” after the patriarch of the world’s three major monotheistic religions.
“This day is a pivot of history,” Netanyahu said. “It heralds a new dawn of peace.”
“Despite the many challenges and hardships that we all face — despite all that, let us pause a moment to appreciate this remarkable day.”
Zayani said Bahrain would stand with the Palestinians. “Today is a truly historic occasion," he said. "A moment for hope and opportunity.”
Meeting Netanyahu earlier in the Oval Office, Trump said, "We'll have at least five or six countries coming along very quickly" to forge their own accords with Israel. But he did not name any of the nations involved in such talks.
Flags of the United States, Israel, the UAE and Bahrain were in abundance.
He called it "a major stride in which people of all faiths and backgrounds live together in peace and prosperity" and declared that the three Middle East countries "are going to work together, they are friends."
In his remarks, Zayani stressed the need for a "two-state" solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Trump, speaking to Fox News ahead of the ceremony, said the agreements would put pressure on the Palestinians to also come to the negotiating table or they would be "left out in the cold."
"The Palestinians will ultimately come in too," he said.
