JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel’s cabinet approved a normalisation deal with the United Arab Emirates on Monday and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he and Abu Dhabi’s crown prince had agreed in a phone call to meet soon.
The U.S.-brokered “treaty of peace” with the Gulf Arab country broke new diplomatic ground in the region, where concern over Iran is high, even as Palestinians condemned the pact as betrayal of their quest for statehood in Israeli-occupied land.
Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan tweeted on Monday that he and Netanyahu had discussed strengthening bilateral ties and the prospects for peace in the region.
In an official statement that coincided with an Israeli cabinet vote approving the Sept. 15 agreement with the UAE, Netanyahu said he and the crown prince would meet “soon”, and had extended invitations to visit each other’s countries.
(Writing by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
