Screens display the flight number of the first-ever commercial flight from Israel to the UAE at the Ben Gurion Airport, Israel on Monday. The flight would carry a US-Israeli delegation to the UAE following a normalization accord, which makes the UAE only the third Arab country to forge ties with Israel in over 70 years. Photo: AFP

The United Arab Emirates' move to pursue normalization with Israel has prompted a backlash from Arab artists and intellectuals, who are boycotting Emirati-backed cultural awards and events to support the Palestinian cause.

"I announce that I am withdrawing from your exhibition," Palestinian photographer Mohamed Badarne wrote to the Sharjah Art Foundation, based in one of the seven emirates that make up the UAE.

"As a people under occupation, we must take a stand against anything to do with reconciliation with the [Israeli] occupier," Berlin-based Badarne told AFP.

The UAE agreed in August to establish full diplomatic ties with Israel in a US-brokered deal, making it the first Gulf state and only the third Arab country to do so.

The agreement was denounced by Palestinians as "a stab in the back," and sparked widespread protests.

Many Palestinians see the deal as a betrayal, breaking a consensus that normalization with Israel is permissible only after the Palestinian question has been resolved.

Palestinian Culture Minister Atef Abu Seif urged Arab intellectuals to stand against a decision which "strengthens the [Israeli] enemy."

Cultural figures from Algeria, Iraq, Oman and Tunisia - as well as the UAE - condemned the accord.

"A sad and catastrophic day," Emirati writer Dhabiya Khamis wrote, following US President Donald Trump's surprise announcement of the deal on August 13.

The UAE has in recent years invested huge sums in culture, including the Louvre Abu Dhabi, a branch of the iconic Paris museum, which opened in the 2017.

The oil-rich Gulf state also funds several literary awards, such as The Sheikh Zayed Book Prize, named after the former Emirati president, which hands out gold medals and cash prizes totaling some $1.9 million each year.

AFP