OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Israel's prime minister and Washington's top diplomat voiced hope Monday the Jewish state would soon build ties with more Arab countries, following its landmark move to normalise relations with the United Arab Emirates.
Benjamin Netanyahu and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was starting a Mideast tour in Jerusalem, both praised the US-brokered deal as a major step toward stability to the turbulent region.
"I'm very hopeful that we will see other Arab nations join in this," said Pompeo, who was also set to visit Sudan, Bahrain and the UAE on his five-day trip.
Netanyahu hailed the Israel-UAE agreement as "a boon to peace and regional stability" which "heralds a new era where we could have other nations join". "I hope we'll have good news in the future, maybe in the near future," he said.
Washington and its close ally Israel hope that more such ties with other regional countries traditionally hostile to the Jewish state will help forge a stronger regional alliance against their common foe, Iran.
Pompeo again stressed US President Donald Trump's goal that "Iran will never have a nuclear weapon" and urged world powers to maintain an arms embargo on the Islamic republic. Israel has existing peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan which, unlike the UAE, share borders with the Jewish state and have fought wars with it.
Under the US-brokered agreement with the Emirates announced on August 13, Israel pledged to suspend its previous plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank, without saying for how long. The Palestinians slammed the UAE's move as a "stab in the back" while their own conflict with the Jewish state remains unresolved. The Islamist group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, charged Monday that the Israel-UAE deal helps "maintain crimes and violations" against the Palestinians.
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