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Washington (AFP)
US President Donald Trump announced on Friday that Bahrain and Israel are moving to normalize their relations, a month after a similar agreement between the United Arab Emirates and the Jewish state.
Trump, who is achieving major diplomatic success on the brink of a presidential election in which he seeks to win a second term, tweeted “a new historic gap today.”
“Our two great friends, Israel and Bahrain, reached a peace agreement,” he said.
The normalization of relations between Israel and America’s allies in the Middle East, including the Gulf states, is an important goal within Trump’s regional strategy to contain Tehran, the enemy of Washington, and the embittered Hebrew state.
At the same time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was declaring the same from Jerusalem.
“Citizens of Israel, I am pleased to inform you that tonight we reached another peace agreement with another Arab country, Bahrain. This agreement adds to the historic peace with the United Arab Emirates,” he said in a statement published in Hebrew.
A joint statement between the three countries, posted by Trump on his Twitter account, indicated that Bahrain will join the long-awaited signing ceremony in Washington on Tuesday, in the presence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel, Bahrain and other regional countries share close positions towards Iran, and Manama accuses Tehran of using the Bahraini Shiites against the existing monarchy.
Trump optimism
Trump said, in brief statements from the Oval Office, that the situation would develop positively in favor of the Palestinians without presenting concrete evidence.
“I think a lot of good things will happen for the Palestinians,” he said.
The Republican billionaire had walked away from the Palestinian Authority since his arrival in the White House by adopting a series of decisions in favor of Israel, seeking to satisfy the important evangelical Christian groups within his electoral base.
Following the announcement of the agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates in mid-August, the Palestinians accused Abu Dhabi of treason and of violating the Arab consensus that normalization with Israel must be preceded by a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
During US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to Manama in late August, the King of Bahrain renewed his country’s support for the establishment of a Palestinian state, in a position that seemed to rule out Washington’s call to normalize relations with Israel. for a foreseeable time.
The joint statement indicated that Bahrain will join the upcoming signing ceremony in Washington on Tuesday, in the presence of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.
This agreement makes Bahrain the fourth country, after the United Arab Emirates and Jordan in 1994 and Egypt in 1979, to establish diplomatic relations with the Hebrew state.
© 2020 AFP
