Trump presides as Israel, two Arab states sign historic pacts
President Donald Trump heralded a pair of historic agreements formalizing diplomatic relations between Israel and two Gulf Arab nations in a ceremony Tuesday on the White House South Lawn.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain signed the accords, marking a major geopolitical shift in the Middle East and giving Trump a platform as peacemaker as he heads into the fall reelection campaign.
“We’re here this afternoon to change the course of history,” Trump said. “Together these agreements will serve as the foundation for a comprehensive peace across the entire region.”
Netanyahu called the agreements “a pivot of history” that “heralds a new dawn of peace.” The foreign ministers from Bahrain and the UAE were similarly sweeping in their praise for the pacts.
“For too long, the Middle East has been set back by conflict and mistrust, causing untold destruction and thwarting the potential of generations of our best and brightest,” said Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, Bahrain’s foreign affairs minister. “Now, I’m convinced. We have the opportunity to change that.”
Tuesday’s diplomatic pageantry at the White House followed months of behind-the-scenes outreach by Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and his envoy for international negotiations, Avi Berkowitz.
As part of the deal with the UAE, Israel agreed to temporarily halt its controversial plan to annex parts of the West Bank, land that Palestinians see as vital to their hopes of a future state.
A joint statement released when the agreement with the UAE was announced last month said that, with Netanyahu’s annexation plan paused, Israel will instead “focus its efforts now on expanding ties with other countries in the Arab and Muslim world.”
Announcement of the agreement was followed by the first direct commercial flight between the two countries.