RAMALLAH, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian government announced on Monday that it decided to withdraw from the World Expo scheduled in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) this October.

The government said in a press statement at the end of its weekly meeting held in Ramallah that the government made the decision in protest of the agreement on normalization of ties between Israel and the UAE.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye told the government's members in the meeting that the step of normalization with Israel that the UAE made "is a clear breaching of the Arab consensus."

Ishtaye also said Palestine refuses the UAE exploit of the Palestinian cause "to justify its step" of normalizing ties with Israel.

Earlier on Monday, Ishtaye said that the UAE signing a peace deal with Israel under the auspices of the United States "is considered a flagrant departure of the Arab consensus over the Palestinian cause." Enditem