Iran Press/ Middle East: The agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates to normalize ties would kill the two-state solution, strengthen "extremists" and undermine the "possibility of peace", chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Sunday.
"I really believe that this step is a killer to the two-state solution," Erekat said.
He argued that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have less incentive to compromise on a viable Palestinian state "if he believes that Arab countries will line up to make peace with him."
In a conference call with foreign reporters, Erekat said that "people like Netanyahu and extremists in Israel believe that the two-state solution is off the table."
Meanwhile, "people on my side are saying, 'we told you from the very beginning: the two-state solution is off the table'," he added.
Erekat condemned the agreement as a "desperate attempt" by Trump to notch a foreign policy success.
He further dismissed senior White House advisor and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, an architect of the UAE-Israel pact, as displaying "a combination of arrogance and ignorance."
Israel and the UAE agreed to normalize relations, US President Donald Trump said Thursday, in a move forestalling Israel's controversial plans to annex large swathes of the occupied West Bank.
The development marks only the third time an Arab nation has opened full diplomatic ties with Israel, and the Emirates is now the first Persian Gulf Arab state to do so. Egypt and Jordan also have diplomatic ties with Israel.
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