Oman welcomes Bahrain-Israel ties normalisation decision

MUSCAT: Oman state media on Sunday said that Oman welcomes Bahrain’s decision to normalise relations with Israel and hopes that the move will contribute to Israeli-Palestinian peace.

Bahrain on Friday became the second Gulf country to normalise ties with Israel after the United Arab Emirates said they would do so a month ago, moves forged partly through shared fears of Iran.

“[Oman] hopes this new strategic path taken by some Arab countries will contribute to bringing about a peace based on an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and on establishing an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as capital,” the government statement said.

Israel’s intelligence minister said a few days after the UAE-Israel accord was announced on Aug. 13 that Oman could also formalise ties with the country. Oman has welcomed the UAE and Bahraini decisions but has not commented on its own prospects for normalised relations.

In 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Oman and discussed peace initiatives in the Middle East with then-Omani leader Sultan Qaboos. In a turbulent region, Oman has maintained its neutrality. It has kept friendly relations with a range of regional actors, including arch-foes the United States and Iran.

Bahraini opposition groups have said they reject a decision by the Gulf state to normalise relations with Israel, with a leading cleric on Sunday calling on the people of the region to resist.

Cleric Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim, living in Iran, said he was against normalisation between Arab countries and Israel, in a statement published by dissolved Bahraini opposition party al-Wefaq, a group close to Qassim, reported British wire service. The accords struck between Israel and the UAE last month, and between Israel and Bahrain on Friday, go against the will of the people, he said. “There is a great divergence between the rulers and the ruled in thought, mind, aims and interests. Governments are experiencing a psychological defeat and want to impose it on the people, and the people have to resist this defeat,” Qassim said.

A group of Bahraini political and civil society associations, including the Bahrain Bar Association, on Sunday voiced their opposition to the deal in a joint statement. “What results from normalisation will not enjoy popular backing, in line with what generations of Bahrainis have been brought up on in terms of adherence to the Palestinian cause,” the statement said.

The head of Bahrain’s highest court ordered judiciary employees not to criticise government policy or express opinions harming national unity, al-Bilad newspaper reported on Sunday. Bahrain’s foreign minister said that Palestinian rights remained a priority for the kingdom.

Bahrainis have previously criticised their government’s engagements with Israel, including last June’s conference in Manama to launch a US-led $50 billion economic formula for Israeli-Palestinian peace.

Parliament last April joined social media calls to stop Israeli business and government officials attending an international entrepreneurship conference. The delegation did not attend. Bahrain has had a Jewish population for decades, although emigration means it is small today. A television period drama released this year by a Gulf network about the trials of a Jewish midwife in a multi-religious community took inspiration from real-life Jewish midwife Umm Jan who lived in Bahrain.

Ebrahim Noonoo, the head of Bahrain’s Jewish community, said the agreement would enable Israelis to come to Bahrain to visit its synagogue and cemetery, where family members may be buried. Bahraini worker Ali Abdallah said he hoped the deal would help regional peace and stability and would facilitate all Muslims being able to pray at Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque.