Hamas chief Haniyeh visits Lebanon to discuss Israel-UAE normalization

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh is in Beirut for a week-long visit that will see him meet with Palestinian factions, over growing cooperation between their enemy Israel and Arab states.

Haniyeh’s visit, his first to Lebanon in 27 years, comes after an August 13 announcement that the Jewish state is normalizing ties with the United Arab Emirates.

Tomorrow, the Hamas chief will meet representatives of other Palestinian factions in rare talks on how to respond to such accords and to a Middle East peace plan announced by Washington this year, says the terror group’s representative in Lebanon, Ali Baraka.

Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri (L) receives Hamas Chief Ismail Haniyeh at the Ain el-Tineh palace in Beirut on September 2, 2020. (AFP)

The meeting at the Palestinian embassy in Beirut will coincide with talks in Ramallah between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and representatives of Palestinian factions there.

Thursday’s joint discussions in Ramallah and Beirut aim to develop “a unified Palestinian strategy to confront normalization schemes… and to reject plans to annex the West Bank as well as [Trump’s] ‘deal of the century,'” Baraka says.

— Agencies