Context:

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.

About

The Arab League

• The League of Arab States, or Arab League, is a voluntary association of countries whose peoples are mainly Arabic speaking or where Arabic is an official language.
• Its stated aims are to strengthen ties among member states, coordinate their policies and direct them towards a common good.
• It has 22 members including Palestine, which the League regards as an independent state.
  • The Arab World consists of 22 countries in the Middle East and North Africa: Algeria, Bahrain, the Comoros Islands, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.

The reason behind Palestine’s decision

• The Palestinians had been hoping the League would condemn deals signed last week in Washington, where the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain agreed to normalize ties with Israel.
• The Palestinians called it a betrayal and said normalization should be offered only in return for Israel’s withdrawal from Palestinian territories.

The latest normalization ‘Deal’

• The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain are the latest countries in the Arab region to formally establish diplomatic ties with Israel in deals brokered by the United States.
• The only two Arab countries Israel has signed peace treaties with are Egypt and Jordan, in 1979 and 1994 respectively.
  • Egypt and Jordan share borders with Israel and have both fought wars with Israel in the past.