Qatar has a working relationship with Israel to provide aid to Gaza, where the Islamic militant group Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007.
There is speculation that Qatar might be the next Arab country to normalize relations after the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan established diplomatic ties with Israel earlier this year.
News of an American-backed agreement for Israel and Morocco to normalize ties quickly made headlines around the world. But viewers of official Palestinian Authority television heard nothing about it on the hour-long nightly news broadcast, as officials in Ramallah stayed mum on the story.
In a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Qatar's Emir discussed his country's future steps in the normalization of relations with Israel, stressing that the Palestinian issue will be at the core of any agreement of normalization between Qatar and Israel.
The normalization agreements with Israel, brokered by the United States, were widely seen as a breakthrough in Mideast diplomacy. But the Palestinians condemned the agreements as a betrayal because they marked a major erosion in Arab support for their cause, a key source of leverage in any future peace talks.
The UAE established full diplomatic ties with Israel in September. Bahrain followed suit. For years, Gulf states' relations with Israel have improved due to their shared concerns about Iranian policies in the region.
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