DUBAI: The Zionist entity signed a free trade deal with the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, its first with an Arab country, building on their US-brokered normalization of diplomatic relations in 2020. The Zionist entity's ambassador to the oil-rich UAE, Amir Hayek, tweeted "mabruk" - congratulations in Arabic - with a photo of Emirati and Zionist officials holding documents at a signing ceremony in Dubai.

The Emirati envoy to the Zionist entity, Mohamed Al-Khaja, hailed as an "unprecedented achievement" the deal that, according to the Zionist side, scraps customs duties on 96 percent of all products traded. "Businesses in both countries will benefit from faster access to markets and lower tariffs as our nations work together to increase trade, create jobs, promote new skills and deepen cooperation," Khaja tweeted.

The 2020 deal was part of the US-brokered Abraham Accords that also saw the Zionist entity establish diplomatic ties with Bahrain and Morocco. Two-way trade between the Zionist entity and the UAE last year totaled some $900 million, according to Zionist figures. UAE-Zionist Business Council president Dorian Barak predicted that trade would soon multiply between the regional powerhouse economies.

"UAE-(Zionist) trade will exceed $2 billion in 2022, rising to around $5 billion in five years, bolstered by collaboration in renewables, consumer goods, tourism and the life sciences sectors," he said in a statement. "Dubai is fast becoming a hub for (Zionist) companies that look to South Asia, the Middle East and the Far East as markets for their goods and services." Nearly 1,000 Zionist companies will be working in and through the UAE by year's end, he said.

The UAE was the first Gulf country to normalize ties with the Zionist entity and only the third Arab nation to do so after Egypt and Jordan. Talks for a free trade agreement began in November and concluded after four rounds of negotiations. The latest was held in March in Egypt between Zionist Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, who became president this month after the death of his half-brother Sheikh Khalifa.

The Zionist entity had in March hosted a meeting of the top diplomats from the United States, UAE, Bahrain and Morocco. Sudan in 2020 also agreed to normalize ties with the Zionist entity, but the strife-torn northeast African country has yet to finalize a deal. The Zionist entity has already struck free trade agreements with other countries and blocs, including the United States, European Union, Canada and Mexico. In February, the Zionist entity signed a trade deal with Rabat to designate special industrial zones in Morocco.

The Abraham Accords broke with long-standing pan-Arab policy to isolate the Zionist entity until it withdraws from the occupied territories and accepts Palestinian statehood. Palestinians condemned the agreements struck under then US president Donald Trump, and the conflict continues to inflame tensions, including between the Zionist entity and the UAE.

Tuesday's signing came two days after thousands of flag-waving Zionists marched through Jerusalem's Old City during a nationalist procession marking the Zionist entity's 1967 capture of east Jerusalem. The Zionist entity annexed east Jerusalem in 1980, a move never recognized by the international community. The UAE on Monday "strongly condemned" what it called the Zionist entity's "storming" of Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque compound, one of Islam's holiest sites. The UAE "reiterated its firm position on the need to provide full protection for Al Aqsa Mosque and halt serious and provocative violations taking place there", reported the official WAM news agency. - AFP