DUBAI (Dispatches) – Qatar’s foreign minister says Arab states that establish ties with the Zionist regime undermine efforts for Palestinian statehood.
Three Arab regimes - the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan – in recent months agree to formal relations with the occupying regime of Israel in deals brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.
Palestinian leaders have accused them of betrayal, while U.S. and Zionist regime officials have said more Arab states could soon follow.
"I think it’s better to have a united (Arab) front to put the interests of the Palestinians (first) to end the (Zionist regime’s) occupation,” Qatar Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani told the online Global Security Forum.
He said division was not in the interest of concerted Arab efforts to get the occupying regime to negotiate with the Palestinians and resolve the decades-long conflict between the sides.
The UAE, Bahrain and Sudan broke with decades of Arab policy that had demanded the Zionist regime first cede land to the Palestinians to form their own state before establishing relations.
Until this year, the occupying regime had only current formal relations with just two Arab states – namely Egypt and Jordan - established under deals reached decades ago.
Sheikh Mohammed said Doha maintains some relations with the occupying regime, though only on matters concerning the Palestinians such as humanitarian needs or development projects.
Qatar, which also has relations with two of the occupying regime’s bitter enemies, Iran and Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, supports establishment of a Palestinian state with East Al-Quds as its capital, a stance the foreign minister reiterated.