PA protesters burn cutouts of Trump, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Netanyahu
PA protesters burn cutouts of Trump, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and NetanyahuReuters

Hundreds of Palestinian Arabs on Wednesday held a protest in areas of Judea and Samaria against last week's announcement that Israel was normalizing ties with the United Arab Emirates, AFP reports.

Members of Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, and the Fatah faction of Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas, took part in the rally in a rare joint initiative.

"Today we tell the world that we are united against 'the Deal of the Century', annexation and normalization," PA cabinet leader Mohammad Shtayyeh told the rally in the village of Turmus'ayya.

"Any normalization legitimizes the occupation of Palestinian territories," Shtayyeh added. "It's a stab in the back.”

Around 2,000 Palestinian Arabs took part in the rally at Turmus'ayya, a village located between the cities of Ramallah and Shechem (Nablus).

The PA condemned the agreement between Israel and the UAE soon after it was signed, with senior leader Hanan Ashrawi tweeting: "May you never be sold out by your 'friends.'"

Earlier this week, chief PA negotiator Saeb Erekat warned that the Israel-UAE agreement would kill the two-state solution, strengthen "extremists" and undermine the "possibility of peace".

On Tuesday, Abbas said that the Israel-UAE deal "is a stab in the Palestinians' back".

Speaking during a meeting of the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah, with the participation of representatives of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, Abbas said that the UAE is "trying to deceive us that the peace deal with Israel came in exchange for stopping the Israeli annexation plan, but it is not true."

"Emiratis are denying the rights of the Palestinian people, the establishment of the future Palestinian state, as well as the issue of Jerusalem," he charged.