Iraq will not normalise ties with Israel, says Palestinian official

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region  — Jibril Rajoub, secretary general of  the Palestinian party Fatah’s central committee denied on Saturday the prospect of Iraq normalising relations with Israel following a recent series of agreements between Arab countries and the Jewish state. 

“We judge people based on what they say and not what is said about them,” responding to rumours of a normalisation deal between Iraq and Israel. “I have not heard this from the prime minister or the president, and this is not part of their agenda,” he told Rudaw’s Hawraz Gulpi in Erbil.

“Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein also made a clear statement about this matter during his official visit to Moscow,” he added. “We are sure about the stance of Iraq on this matter.”

Fatah is the largest faction in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Its president, Mahmoud Abbas, heads the Palestinian Authority (PA), which has civil control over parts of the West Bank. 

Rajoubi criticized the normalization of ties between Arab countries and Israel as a “strategic mistake,” claiming that America is encouraging such agreements to promote Israeli hegemony. 

Four countries - the United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Bahrain, and Morocco -  have recently announced normalisation agreements with Israel, supported by the United States. 
 
Palestinian officials have spoken out against the deals, labeled by the PA as a “betrayal of Jerusalem.”

The official also spoke about comparisons between the plight of Kurds and that of Palestinians. 

“The Kurds have definitely faced many struggles and have been mistreated, but we cannot compare this to the case of Palestine,” he said. “What is being done to us is an attack on the whole of the Middle East, and an attack on Muslims and Christians under a Zionist ideology.”