Israel, UAE and Bahrain sign US-brokered normalisation deals

The UAE and Bahrain signed agreements to normalise relations with Israel at the White House.

US President Donald Trump says he expects other Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, to follow suit, but neighbouring Qatar has ruled out normalising ties until the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is resolved.

“There’s a lot of head-scratching in Washington about the timing of all this, given the fact that we’re less than 50 days until the US election, many suggesting that the president may be looking for a foreign-policy win, given the fact that he continues to call these ‘peace agreements’,” says Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett.

“None of the countries were in any sort of state of war prior to the signing of these agreements… There is no promise in there of some sort of solution … in terms of resolving the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. So in many ways, there is questioning about what is really being achieved here.”

This video was produced and edited by Al Jazeera Newsfeed’s Hassan Ghani.