[ad_1]
WASHINGTON: Bahrain joined the United Arab Emirates in agreeing to normalize relations with Israel on Friday (Sept. 11), a move forged in part through shared fears of Iran, but which threatens to further isolate Palestinians.
US President Donald Trump tweeted the news after speaking by phone with Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the White House said.
“This is truly a historic day,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, saying he believed other countries would follow suit.
“The opening of direct dialogue and ties between these two dynamic societies and advanced economies will continue the positive transformation of the Middle East and increase stability, security and prosperity in the region,” the United States, Bahrain and Israel said in a joint statement.
The announcement comes a month after the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain’s another Persian Gulf state, agreed to normalize ties with Israel under a US-brokered agreement that is scheduled to be signed at a White House ceremony. hosted by Trump on September 15.
The ceremony between Israel and the United Arab Emirates will be attended by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan. The joint statement said that Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani would join that ceremony and sign a “historic Peace Declaration” with Netanyahu.
On Friday, Netanyahu said that Bahrain’s decision marks a “new era of peace.”
“For many years we invested in peace, and now peace will invest in us, it will generate really important investments in Israel’s economy, and that is very important,” Netanyahu said in a video statement.
Emirati Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hend al-Otaiba congratulated Bahrain and Israel, saying that it marked “another historic and significant achievement that will greatly contribute to the stability and prosperity of the region.”
But the Palestinians were dismayed, fearing the UAE’s actions and now Bahrain will weaken a long-standing pan-Arab position that demands Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territory and acceptance of the Palestinian state in exchange for normal relations with the Arab countries.
“By normalizing ties with the occupation, Bahrain is breaking all Arab resolutions. It is rejected, condemned and represents a betrayal of the Palestinian cause,” said Wassel Abu Youssef, a senior official with the Palestine Liberation Organization in Ramallah, in the territories occupied by Israel. West Bank.
In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said Bahrain’s decision to normalize relations with Israel “represents grave damage to the Palestinian cause and supports the occupation.”
EYES IN SAUDI
The relaxation of relations with Israel comes in a context of shared fears about Iran’s threat to the region. The bigger question now is whether Saudi Arabia, one of the most influential countries in the Middle East and a close ally of the United States, will do the same.
The Trump administration has tried to persuade other Sunni Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, to commit to Israel. Riyadh has so far signaled that it is not ready.
The deals take place in the context of the US election campaign between Trump, who is seeking a second term on November 3, and Democrat Joe Biden. Foreign policy has not featured prominently in the campaign, but Trump is eager to present himself as a peacemaker even as he blows his sabers against Iran.
Trump’s pro-Israel moves have been seen, in part, as an effort to bolster his appeal to evangelical Christian voters, an important segment of his political base.
Zaha Hassan, a visiting fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said Bahrain’s move was “especially concerning” for Palestinians.
“This move could not happen without the Saudi green light,” he said. “He is under pressure to normalize, but cannot because of his position as custodian of Islam’s holy sites and the unpopularity of it on the street level.”
“It was offered to Bahrain as a consolation that will keep Saudi Arabia in the grace of Trump.”
In the Arab League on Wednesday, the Palestinians sought, but did not obtain, a condemnation of the agreement between the United Arab Emirates and Israel from their peers. However, they did garner renewed Saudi support for their right to statehood.
On Friday, the Saudi embassy in Washington did not respond to questions about whether its ambassador or another Saudi representative would attend Tuesday’s signing ceremony.
Bahrain, a small island state, is home to the regional headquarters of the US Navy.In 2011, Riyadh sent troops to Bahrain to help quell an uprising and, together with Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, in 2018 offered Bahrain a bailout of 10 billion dollars.
Friday’s agreement makes Bahrain the fourth Arab country to reach such an agreement with Israel since exchanging embassies with Egypt and Jordan decades ago.
Last week, Bahrain said it would allow flights between Israel and the United Arab Emirates to use its airspace. This followed Saudi Arabia’s decision to allow an Israeli commercial aircraft to fly over it en route to the United Arab Emirates.
The United States, Israel and the United Arab Emirates have urged Palestinian leaders to reengage with Israel. Negotiations last broke down between Israelis and Palestinians in 2014, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has refused to have political dealings with the Trump White House for more than two years, accusing it of pro-Israel bias.
On Friday, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner told Reuters: “Everyone in the region is below the Palestinian leadership. The Palestinian leadership continues to make its case less and less relevant by acting in the way it does. They are”.
