Iran Press/ Middle East: 80 members of Knesset voted in favor of the treaty but a 13-member Joint List of Arab parties in the Knesset voted against it.
The agreement will return to the cabinet for ratification, where it is expected to pass it again by an overwhelming majority, if not unanimous.
Before the vote, which took place after a lengthy discussion of the agreement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, "The ties we are promoting with the Arab world are breaking the Palestinian veto on achieving peace in the Middle East. For too long, Palestinian refusal has halted rapprochement between Israel and the Arab states. I adhere to a different policy that reverses the old order. And when the Palestinians change their views, promote a peace agreement with them as well."
Netanyahu also said, "We must not go back to the ideas of returning to the 1967 lines, flooding the country with refugees and dividing Jerusalem. “If someone here or in the international community comes back to arouse unrealistic aspirations in the Palestinians like the ones I mentioned, progress in the Middle East will be stopped in the investigation. A squeak of the brakes will lead to a deadlock for instability and deterioration."
Following the normalization of relations between the UAE and Bahrain and Israel on September 15, Palestinian groups took steps to form a united Palestinian front to counter the conspiracies of the regime and the US.
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