JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he has agreed to delay the annexation of the occupied West Bank as part of an agreement with the United Arab Emirates, but plans are still "under consideration".
According to the report, he said in an agreement with US President Donald Trump that he had "postponed" plans for accession to the West Bank, but that he would "never relinquish rights to his homeland."
Netanyahu, like many in the Jewish state, calls the occupied West Bank Judea and Samaria and claims the area as a historic Jewish homeland.
"Until an agreement is reached between Israel and Palestine, we will certainly not recognize anything in Jerusalem, whether it is the West or the East," said Anwar Gargash, the UAE's foreign minister.
He called on Israel and Palestine to return to the negotiating table, but said the issue was not in the hands of the UAE.
Anwar Gargash, a senior UAE official, said the agreement had helped defuse a time bomb of Israeli planned settlements in the occupied West Bank that threatened a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Anwar Gargash said the agreement was a bold but necessary step for the region.
"The region is very divided, you will hear the usual noise but I think it is necessary to move forward," he told reporters.
In the coming weeks, delegations from Israel and the United Arab Emirates, a regional business and investment center, will sign bilateral agreements on investment, tourism, direct flights, security, telecommunications and other issues, the statement said.
The deal is 'shameful', Iran
Iran's Tasnim news agency called the normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates "shameful."
Iranian scholars have not yet commented on the deal.
Read More : If Israel gets involved, it will have to pay the same price.
It should be noted that Israel and the United Arab Emirates have agreed on an agreement to normalize diplomatic relations between the two countries in the Middle East, in which US President Donald Trump played the role of mediator.
The deal will hurt the Palestinian cause, Hamas said
Hamas, a group of Islamist leaders in the Gaza Strip, has rejected a landmark agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, saying it would hurt the Palestinian cause.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qasim said the agreement with the United Arab Emirates was a reward for Israeli occupation and crime. Definition of the Egyptian treaty
Egypt recognizes agreement
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has praised the agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, saying it would end Israeli annexation of Palestinian territory.
"I read with interest and admiration the joint statement between the United States, the brotherly United Arab Emirates and Israel on blocking Israel's annexation of the Palestinian territories," he tweeted.
Read More : Agreement between UAE and Israel, India also jumped into the fray.
He said it would help bring "peace" to the Middle East.
In 1979, Egypt and Israel signed the first peace agreement between the Jewish state and an Arab nation, boosting diplomatic and military relations in the Middle East.
Egypt has also long been a mediator between Hamas and Israel, which control the Gaza Strip.
