UAE Called ‘Traitor’ by Palestinians for Officially Opening Embassy in Tel Aviv

The inauguration ceremony on Wednesday was hosted by UAE’s Ambassador to Israel Mohammad al-Khaja, with the regime’s President Isaac Herzog in attendance.

The embassy is situated in the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange building, also known as the Bursa.

Palestinians, who seek an independent state in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem (al-Quds) as its capital, view the deals as a betrayal of their cause.

A member of the Palestinian Fatah movement’s Central Committee has censured Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed (MBZ) as “a traitor” to the Palestinian cause, saying the United Arab Emirates must be expelled from the Arab League due to normalization with Israel.

Israel opened its embassy in the Emirati capital in late June. Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid inaugurated the Israeli embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Israeli consulate in Dubai during a two-day visit.

Israel and the UAE have signed a raft of deals in various areas, ranging from tourism to aviation and financial services, since they signed the normalization agreement in August last year.

Israeli ministers had previously visited the UAE, but Lapid is the most senior Israeli diplomat to have made the trip, and the first to travel on an official mission.

In March, a planned official visit by then Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the UAE was canceled due to a “dispute” with Jordan over the use of its airspace, according to Israeli officials.

Netanyahu signed agreements with the Emirati foreign minister and Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani during an official ceremony hosted by former US President Donald Trump at the White House on September 15 last year.

Israel lays claim to the entire Jerusalem al-Quds, but the international community views the city’s eastern sector as occupied territory and Palestinians consider it the capital of their future state.