Hundreds of Palestinians protest in West Bank against Israel-UAE deal

Hundreds of Palestinians hold a protest in the West Bank against last week’s announcement that Israel was normalizing ties with the United Arab Emirates.

Members of rival groups Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, and the Fatah faction of President Mahmud Abbas’s West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, took part in the rally in a rare joint initiative, an AFP journalist reports.

“Today we tell the world that we are united against ‘the deal of the century’, annexation and normalization,” PA Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh tells the rally in the village of Turmus’ayya.

The bombshell announcement last week that Israel and the energy-rich UAE would normalize ties sparked fury among Palestinians, with both Hamas and the PA leadership denouncing the US-brokered agreement.

Under the deal Israel said it would suspend its plans to annex Jewish settlements and other territory in the West Bank.

Around 2,000 Palestinians take part in the rally at Turmus’ayya, a village in the north of the West Bank nestled between the cities of Ramallah and Nablus. They traveled there by bus from other areas of the West Bank

Clashes have been reported between protesters and Israeli forces on the outskirts of the village, with protesters throwing stones at Israeli forces, who have responded with tear gas.

— AFP