Arab League rejects Palestinian Authority demand to condemn Israel-UAE deal.

The Arab League on Wednesday failed to pass a resolution proposed by the Palestinian Authority (PA) which would have condemned the normalization deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Times of Israel reports.

“After a three-hour debate, some Arab countries refused to include [a] statement condemning [the UAE] for abandoning Arab decisions. Additionally, they struck out a clause which discussed the trilateral agreement” between the UAE, the US, and Israel, the PA representative to the Arab League, Muhannad al-Aklouk, was quoted as having told the Ma’an news agency.

Senior Arab League official Hussam Zaki said, “Discussion around this point was serious and comprehensive. But it did not lead to agreement over the resolution proposed by the Palestinians.”

Zaki said the PA representatives had insisted they would either accept a condemnation of the agreement or no statement on the issue at all.

“A number of amendments were proposed, and then counter-amendments…and we were at a point in which Palestinian demands had not been realized, and the Palestinians preferred it not to pass rather than have it pass in a manner which they believed to be inadequate,” Zaki said.

Before Wednesday’s discussion, the PA leadership submitted a draft resolution in which it watered down its criticism of the normalization deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas denounced the Israel-UAE deal and described it as “a stab in the Palestinians’ back”. He has also said that no peace would be achieved in the region by bypassing the Palestinian Arabs in favor of normalization of relationships between the Arab states and Israel.

Chief PA negotiator Saeb Erekat warned that the Israel-UAE agreement would kill the two-state solution, strengthen “extremists” and undermine the “possibility of peace”.

An Arab League condemnation of the Israel-UAE deal seemed unlikely from the start, sinc several Arab states such as Egypt and Bahrain have expressed public or tacit support for the deal.

Senior PA official Hussein al-Sheikh called the Arab League’s failure to condemn the deal “the triumph of money over dignity.”

“The Arab League has not produced anything. It has given the entire region condemnations of everyone ad nauseum — except for Israel. This is a thunderous collapse, the use of ‘national sovereignty’ to justify subservience,” al-Sheikh said, according to Times of Israel.

Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem also condemned the Arab League’s failure to pass the resolution.

“This inability to condemn the UAE merely tempts Israel and the United States to continue implementing their plan to liquidate the Palestinian cause,” he was quoted as having said.