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Palestinians fail to get Arab League to condemn Israel-UAE deal

09 September 2020
 Dan Ackermann

The Palestinian Authority failed on Wednesday to get the Arab League's foreign ministers to endorse a resolution criticizing the U.S.-brokered normalization deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

Why it matters: This is a very unusual development and a big blow to the Palestinians, who hold the rotating presidency of the Arab League. For decades, Arab League foreign ministers have endorsed every draft resolution the Palestinians have put forward.

  • After the Trump administration's Middle East peace plan was released in January, the Palestinians managed to get the Arab League to condemn the plan — but, this time, many Arab countries refused to condemn the UAE.
  • The Arab League’s assistant secretary-general Husam Zaki said during a press conference after the meeting that the foreign ministers discussed the Palestinian text and entered several amendments, but couldn’t reach a consensus and decided not to put out any statement on the Israel-UAE agreement.

What they're saying: Palestinian foreign minister Riyad Al-Maliki condemned the Israel-UAE agreement in his speech and called upon Arab countries to announce that there will be no normalization with Israel before the establishment of a Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem.

  • Emirati minister of state for foreign affairs Anwar Gargash defended his country’s decision in his speech. He said the normalization agreement was not done at the expense of the Palestinians, adding that the deal managed to stop Israel’s annexation plans in the West Bank.
  • Other foreign ministers — mainly the Saudi foreign minister — pledged their support for the Palestinians and their aspirations, but stopped short of criticizing the UAE.

What’s next: The White House plans to invite foreign ministers and ambassadors from many Arab countries to attend the deal's signing ceremony next week in order to show the deal has Arab support.

  • It is still unclear how many Arab countries will send representatives.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.