Rockets, Injuries, and Airstrikes Just As UAE and Israel Sign for Peace: What Is the Palestinian Message There?

Just as the Prime minister of Israel joined the foreign ministers of the UAE and Bahrain in addition to the US President Donald Trump for a ceremony, in which the three countries officially signed an agreement inaugurating full diplomatic ties, two rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israeli towns, one of which caused injuries and damage in the coastal city of Ashdod, before Israeli warplanes struck several sites in the Gaza Strip in retaliation.

The brief exchange of fire that interrupted a weeks-old de-escalation agreement between Hamas and Israel was interpreted by analysts as a Palestinian message that peace in the Middle East cannot be achieved without them, especially as the Trump administration branded the normalization between the UAE, Bahrain, and Israel as a historic and a major breakthrough in the Middle East.

Ashdod hospital has confirmed that at least 2 people have been injured during the rocket attack that took place on Tuesday evening.

According to Palestinian officials, who have condemned the Emirati-Bahraini-Israeli agreement, "peace in the region will not be achieved without an end to the Israeli occupation of the 1967 territories" where a Palestinian state should be recognized as per international law.

Following news of the escalating scene across the Gaza border, commentators have highlighted the rocket launch from Gaza in light of the Palestinian statements, saying that it sends a message of rejecting peace efforts that completely disregard them.

This comes nine months after the Trump administration unveiled a Mid-east peace plan dubbed as "the deal of the century;" suggesting peace in exchange of economic prosperity granted to Palestinians, but dismissing the Palestinians' right to self-determination or the right to establish a fully independent state based on the two-state solution.

Following the Palestinian immediate rejection of "the deal of the century," the US seemed to work on another "peace deal" between Israel and other Arab states, which resulted in two successes; achieving agreements with the UAE and Bahrain.

Emirati and Bahraini officials in addition to Israeli and American ones have repeatedly referred to the Abraham Accords signed in Washington, DC yesterday as "the beginning of a new era of peace and prosperity in the Middle East."