Brain Booster for UPSC & State PCS Examination (Topic: Arab League)

Current Affairs Brain Booster for UPSC & State PCS Examination

Arab League

The Palestinians have stepped down from a key Arab League role in protest at the regional bloc's failure to take a stand against Israeli-Arab deals.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain signed historic agreements with Israel.
The UAE was represented by Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed and Bahrain by Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani. The Arab Accord — essentially bilateral agreements with Israel — does not mention the IsraeliPalestinian conflict.
As per the agreements, the UAE and Bahrain will establish embassies, exchange ambassadors, cooperate and work together with Israel across a range of sectors, including tourism, trade, healthcare and security. While Israel would halt its plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank of Palestine.
The deal between the UAE and Israel represented a significant breakthrough in diplomatic relations between the two nations as the Trump administration works to facilitate cooperation between Arab nations and Israel.
The accord has been praised internationally, including by the UN.
Egypt was the first Arab State to sign a peace deal with Israel in 1979. Jordon signed a peace pact in 1994.

The Arab League is a union of Arab-speaking African and Asian countries. It was formed in Cairo in 1945 to promote the independence, sovereignty, affairs and interests of its 22 member countries and four observers.
The 22 members of the Arab League as of 2018 were Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. The four observers are Brazil, Eritrea, India and Venezuela.
The League's main goal is to "draw closer the relations between member states and co-ordinate collaboration between them, to safeguard their independence and sovereignty, and to consider in a general way the affairs and interests of the Arab countries".

Palestinians see the accords that the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain signed with Israel in Washington as a betrayal of their cause and a blow to their quest for an independent state in Israeli-occupied territory.
Palestinians failed to persuade the Arab League to condemn member nations breaking ranks and normalising ties with Israel.
Palestine was supposed to chair Arab League meetings for the next six months, but Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki told a news conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah that it no longer wanted the position.

Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs both want the same land. And a compromise has proven difficult to find.
The 1967 war is particularly important for today’s conflict, as it left Israel in control of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, two territories home to large Palestinian populations.
The West Bank is located to the west of the Jordan River. It is a landlocked territory, bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel to the south, west and north.
The Gaza Strip, on the other hand, is a small boot-shaped territory along the Mediterranean coast between Egypt and Israel.
Hamas seized the Gaza Strip in 2007 from Fatah forces during a brief round of fighting. Differences over power-sharing have delayed implementation of unity deals agreed since then.
Today, the West Bank is nominally controlled by the Palestinian Authority and is under Israeli occupation.