Hungary to be only EU country to attend Israel-UAE accord signing in Washington

Hungary's Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto will be the only European Union leader to attend the signing ceremony for the Israel-UAE peace deal, which is set to be held in the US on September 15. The foreign ministry spokesman, Mate Paczolay told a local Hungarian news agency that at the invitation of US President Donald Trump, Szijjarto will attend the signing ceremony in the White House. 

The news of the Hungarian Foreign Minister attending the ceremony comes after Szijjarto called the peace deal ‘the best plan’ that has the most chances to have peace in the Middle East. While taking to Facebook, Szijjarto said, "Hungary continues to support efforts for peace in the Middle East, and we continue to stand up in international organizations for a fair judgement of the countries of the region”. 

Furthermore, as Bahrain recently agreed to join the agreement, the Hungarian official said, “Since the White House prepared a schedule for stabilizing the region, this is the second development that proves that this is the best of the peace plans so far and that has the most chances to finally have peace in the Middle East”. 

READ: Netanyahu: Israel At Threshold Of New Era Of Peace

Bahrain joins the peace agreement 

Brokered by the United States, the Israel-Bahrain peace agreement comes as another diplomatic win for the Trump administration following last month's Israel-UAE peace deal. Bahrain is now the fourth nation in the Middle East to fully recognise Israel. The other Middle Eastern countries that have diplomatic relations with Israel are Egypt that normalised relations in 1979 and Jordan which normalised relations in 1994.

READ: Head Of Bahrain’s Jewish Community On Israel Deal

Under the accord, Israel agreed to suspend its planned annexation of areas of the occupied West Bank, while the Gulf state agreed to normalize relations with Israel. Moreover, the agreement also firms up opposition to regional power Iran, which the UAE, Israel and the US view as the main threat in the conflict-riven Middle East. 

Meanwhile, the Arab nations have been demanding a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine issue, which has been a major obstruction for the normalisation of ties. Arab nations have offered Israel normalised ties in return for a statehood deal with the Palestinians and full Israeli withdrawal from territory captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

(Image credit: SzijjartoPeter/Facebook) 

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