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RAMALLAH, Aug. 16-- The agreement to normalize relations between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel raised Palestinian fears of a crack in the official Arab position towards their cause, experts said. Palestinian officials and observers expressed their concern that more Arab countries would follow the UAE's example in establishing official relations with Israel without linking reaching an agreement to resolving the Palestinian issue. The Palestinian leadership, which condemned the UAE-Israel deal, called for emergency meetings for the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to discuss the agreement as well as to attempt to persuade the UAE to withdraw from the agreement. Saeb Erekat, secretary-general of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) executive committee, told Xinhua that the Palestinian efforts now focus on preserving the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002, which stipulates that normalization of relations between Israel and the Arab countries can only happen after Israel's withdrawal from the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967. Erekat warned that "advancing this agreement is a meaningless stubbornness, feeding the occupation, extremism, and a reward for terrorism." On Sunday, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, Palestinian presidential spokesman, told reporters that the Palestinian leadership will adopt a robust foreign policy against the normalization agreement. Israel and the UAE have reached an agreement, brokered by the U.S., to work towards a "full normalization of relations." | 
