Beneficial to every Arab country in the region to connect with Israel: Greenblatt

The Israel-UAE-Bahrain deal is better for all countries economically, culturally and for national security issues, former US Special Envoy to the Middle East Jason Greenblatt told Al Arabiya English shortly before the historic Abrahamic peace accords.

“It is beneficial to every country in this region to connect with Israel. It is better economically, it is better socially. It is better culturally, it is better national security wise. What people should be looking at is not payment for peace, but rather peace for peace,” Greenblatt said from the South Lawn of the White House where hundreds of people witnessed the historic deals Israel signed with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to normalize ties.

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Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump, Bahrain’s FM Abdullatif Al Zayani and UAE FM Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan wave from the White House balcony, Sept. 15, 2020. (Reuters)

The UAE announced its deal to normalize ties with Israel last month before Bahrain followed suit last week. Tuesday’s deal means that four Arab states now recognize Israel after Egypt and Jordan signed peace treaties in 1979 and 1994.

“We have to help this next generation live lives of prosperity, live lives of peace, and I think the region is poised for this, including by the way the Palestinians I think they're ready. I think their leadership needs to step up to the plate and seize this opportunity because how often do you get to see something? It's been 26 years since we saw something like this in the past, and now we're ready for more and more to come,” Greenblatt said.

Israel halted its plans to annex Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory in August, in exchange for the normalization of diplomatic ties with the UAE.

Trump, who hosted the ceremony, said that at least five or six more countries are “very far down the road” on the way to normalizing relations with Israel.

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