Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's historic deal with the UAE won praise abroad - but generated discontent from right-wing supporters and settlers over the suspension of land annexation plans.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's historic deal with the UAE won praise abroad - but generated discontent from right-wing supporters and settlers over the suspension of land annexation plans. "This agreement could signal a possible crisis in the relationship of Netanyahu and many of the settlers and their supporters in the Israeli right wing," said Yohanan Plesner, director of the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem think-tank. Figures on Israel's nationalist right have called for a replacement to Netanyahu. Netanyahu may have "gained a few points among centre-left voters, who like deals with the Arabs, but he lost several points with his right-wing base" whose "dream" of annexation of land has gone, said political commentator Ben Caspit, writing in Maariv newspaper. The deal announced on Thursday sees Israel pledge to suspend its planned annexation of Palestinian lands, a concession welcomed by European and some pro-Western Arab governments as a boost for hopes of peace. But Netanyahu, neck-and-neck with political rivals during the three last election campaigns, had used the issue of annexation to woo voters from the radical right and the settlers. They are fierce opponents of any return of Palestinian territories, seized by Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967. 'Bitter pill' Netanyahu's unity government had announced a strategy to annex parts of the West Bank and Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territory, including the Jordan Valley, a strategic strip along the Jordanian border. That plan was given the green light in January by US President Donald Trump. But the surprise deal with the United Arab Emirates appears to put annexation on ice; Israeli, Emirati and US leaders said they had agreed "Israel will suspend declaring sovereignty" over West Bank areas. The normalisation agreement is only Israel's third with an Arab country, after Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994. For commentator Ben Caspit, the deal was driven by opposition to annexation by members of the ruling coalition -- such as Benny Gantz and Gabi Ashkenazi. That "forced Netanyahu to recalculate", and made him look for a way to get his supporters to swallow a "bitter pill". But since Netanyahu has said annexation of parts of the West Bank is only "postponed" and that Israel had "not given up", some see it as only a matter of time before it resumes. - 'Myth has disappeared' - In Efrata, an Israeli settlement near the Palestinian city of Bethlehem, the head of the local council Oded Revivi tempered his disappointment. "All these years people thought that peace with Arab countries could not be made, as long as there was a Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria," he said, using the Jewish name for the West Bank. "We see that this myth has disappeared." Revivi, looking back over the decades since the 1967 war, believes annexation has only been paused. "It was put on hold, but nobody knows for how long," Revivi added. "We've been waiting for this for 53 years -- maybe more than 2,000 years. I'm sure it will come back to the table and much faster than you think." The nationalist right have reacted bitterly. They are angry that the deal "pauses" annexation - and thus keeps the idea alive of a viable separate Palestinian state alongside Israel. "It is tragic that Netanyahu did not seize the moment, nor have the courage to apply sovereignty even over a centimetre of the Land of Israel, but sovereignty over the territories of our homeland will come," said Naftali Bennet, leader of the radical right-wing nationalist Yamina alliance. "We cannot ignore the great dangers posed by relaunching the talks for a Palestinian state," said Bezalel Smotrich, another Yamina member, which sits in the opposition and draws much of its support from settlers. "To face the danger, the right has to present here and now an alternative" to Netanyahu's leadership, he said.

Israel's shift on annexation sparks right-wing anger

Arab foreign ministers condemned a plan by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to annex parts of the occupied West Bank as "aggression" undermining any chances of a peace settlement with the Palestinians.

Arab foreign ministers condemned a plan by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to annex parts of the occupied West Bank as "aggression" undermining any chances of a peace settlement with the Palestinians. Netanyahu said on Tuesday he planned to annex the Jordan Valley, a large swathe of the occupied West Bank, if he wins a closely contested election just a week away. Israel captured the West Bank in a 1967 war and Palestinians, who signed interim peace deals with Israel in the 1990s that include security cooperation, seek to make it part of a future state. The Arab League "considers his announcement a dangerous development and a new Israeli aggression by declaring the intention to violate the international law," Arab foreign ministers said in a statement after a meeting in Cairo. "The league regards these statements as undermining the chances of any progress in the peace process and will torpedo all its foundations," the statement said. Arab foreign ministers had been holding a meeting in Cairo, seat of the Arab League, but added an emergency session after Netanyahu made his comments on live television. Around 65,000 Palestinians and 11,000 Israeli settlers live in the Jordan Valley and northern Dead Sea area, according to the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem. The main Palestinian city is Jericho, with around 28 villages and smaller Bedouin communities. Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi on Twitter called Netanyahu's plan a "serious escalation". Jordan and Egypt are the only Arab states to have peace treaties with Israel. Hanan Ashrawi, a senior official in the Palestine Liberation Organization, wrote on Twitter that the Israeli leader was out to impose a "greater Israel on all of historical Palestine and (carry) out an ethnic cleansing agenda". Fighting for his political life after an inconclusive election in April, Netanyahu also reaffirmed a pledge to annex all of the settlements Israel has established in the West Bank. White House senior adviser Jared Kushner said in early May that he hoped Israel would take a hard look at President Donald Trump's upcoming Middle East peace proposal before "proceeding with any plan" to annex West Bank settlements. Saudi Arabia condemned Netanyahu's comments and called for an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, state news agency SPA said. Qatar reiterated its support for a two-state peace solution.

Arab League calls Netanyahu plan to annex West Bank areas 'aggression'

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Israel's shift on annexation sparks right-wing anger

Arab League calls Netanyahu plan to annex West Bank areas 'aggression'