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A plane carrying an Israeli delegation, accompanied by US officials, took off today from David Ben Gurion airport in “Tel Aviv”, on its way to the Bahraini capital, Manama, to sign a diplomatic agreement for the opening of two embassies.
And US Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin said from inside the airport in “Tel Aviv”: “We are now heading on the first direct flight from Israel to Bahrain.”
For his part, an Israeli official said that the diplomatic agreement expected to be signed today between “Israel” and Bahrain will culminate 20 years of secret relations between the two countries.
The official broadcaster quoted an anonymous official as saying: “We are talking about relationships that have been off the radar for 20 years and now there is an opportunity to bring them to light.”
The Israeli delegation is headed by national security adviser Meir Ben Shabat, while the US delegation is headed by Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin, and also includes Avi Berkowitz, adviser to US President Donald Trump.
The joint Israeli-US delegation will be received at the Manama airport by Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdul Latif Al-Zayani, after which bilateral working group talks will begin, followed by the signing. of the agreements.
The Israeli delegation is expected to sign 6 or 7 cooperation documents between the foreign ministries of the two countries, an agreement on the issuance of visas for holders of official passports and other agreements in the fields of communications and trade, depending on the same source.
The duration of the visit of the Israeli delegation to Manama is expected not to exceed 7 hours, after which it will return to “Tel Aviv”.
The visit comes in support of the agreement that Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates signed with “Israel” at the White House to normalize relations, under the auspices of the United States, on September 15.
This step was met with widespread condemnation, and the Palestinian factions and leaders considered it a “betrayal” and a stab in the back of the Palestinian people.
The Palestinian leadership rejects any normalization of relations between “Israel” and the Arab countries before ending the Israeli occupation of the occupied territories in 1967.
