Bahrain Warming Relations with «Israel»: FM Speaks to «Israeli» Outlets

By Staff, Agencies

The relation between Bahrain and the “Israeli” entity has been warming. For the first time in the history of the Gulf region, a state that has cut off diplomatic relations with the entity has given interviews to “Israeli” media outlets.

Bahrain Foreign Minister, Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, gave interviews to “Israeli” outlets in the sidelined of the so-called “Peace to Prosperity” workshop – a US-organized economic workshop dubbed as the “Deal of the Century” – held in Bahrain.

He said the Manama workshop is focused on the economic aspects of the Trump administration’s “Israeli”-Palestinian so-called “peace” plan, adding that it could be like Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s visit to al-Quds [Jerusalem] in 1977, which helped pave the way to the Camp David Accords and the normalizing of relations between Egypt and the “Israeli” entity.

“As much as Camp David 1 was a major game changer, after the visit of President Sadat — if this succeeds, and we build on it, and it attracts attention and momentum, this would be the second game changer,” Al Khalifa said.

To add salt to injury, the top Bahraini diplomat recognized the entity’s “right to existence,” saying the regime is “there to stay, of course”.

“Who did we offer peace to [with] the [Arab] Peace Initiative?...We offered it to ‘Israel’,” he said, referring to a Saudi-backed peace framework. “We want better relations with it, and we want peace with it”. Al Khalifa added.

Al Khalifa also claimed that while Bahrain might be the only Arab country – besides Egypt and Jordan – to acknowledge the entity’s existence, “we know our brothers in the region do believe in it” as well.

The “Israeli” entity has full diplomatic ties with only two Arab states, Egypt and Jordan, but latest reports suggest Tel Aviv has been working behind the scenes to establish formal contacts with other Arab countries such as Bahrain.

The Bahraini foreign minister further encouraged the entity to approach Arab leaders about the issues of concern regarding the “peace” proposal.

“Come and talk to us. Talk to us about it. Say, guys, you have a good initiative, but we have one thing that worries us,” he said.

Khalifa stressed that although he has not yet seen the political part of Trump’s plan, called the “deal of the century,” but he was optimistic about it.

“We have to wait. I cannot talk about something that I don’t know. But we hope that this political plan will also be attractive to everybody,” he said.

Palestinians have already rejected the deal and boycotted the related Bahrain event. The participants in the two-day meeting had ignored a Palestinian call to likewise boycott the workshop.