Bahrain said Wednesday it was committed to the creation of a Palestinian state in talks with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, implicitly rejecting his push for Arab countries to swiftly normalize ties with Israel.
Pompeo was in Manama as part of a Middle East trip aimed at building more ties between the Jewish state and the Arab world after a landmark US-brokered deal with the United Arab Emirates.
Looking forward to speaking with leaders in Israel, Sudan, Bahrain, and the UAE to discuss Iran’s malign influence and to celebrate the historic Abraham Accords agreement between Israel and the UAE. https://t.co/TJSwZNzn5S
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) August 23, 2020
However, Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa said he told Pompeo that his country remains committed to the Arab Peace Initiative – which calls for Israel’s complete withdrawal from the Palestinian territories occupied after 1967, in exchange for peace and the full normalisation of relations.
“The king stressed the importance of intensifying efforts to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict according to the two-state solution… to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital,” the official Bahrain News Agency (BNA) reported.
#Pompeo Lands in #Sudan to Push #Normalization with #Israel https://t.co/OzmRQuCyNt via @PalestineChron pic.twitter.com/EFLCtQ1aVT
— @palestinechron (@PalestineChron) August 27, 2020
The US chief diplomat has said he is hopeful other nations will follow the UAE, which earlier this month became only the third Arab country to agree to normalize relations with the Jewish state.
Manama, whose contacts with Israel date back to the 1990s, was the first Gulf country to welcome the UAE move and was considered a front-runner to follow in its footsteps.
In Blow to #US Efforts, #Morocco Says No to #Normalization with #Israel https://t.co/doFV30s49X via @PalestineChron pic.twitter.com/hsPRtgKcFi
— @palestinechron (@PalestineChron) August 27, 2020
On August 13, Israel and the UAE have reached a deal that is expected to lead to “full normalization of relations” between the Arab nation and Israel in an agreement that US President Donald Trump reportedly helped broker.
The agreement is considered a severe blow to Palestinian efforts aimed at isolating Israel regionally and internationally until it ends its military occupation and apartheid-like system in occupied Palestine.
(Palestine Chronicle, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, Social Media)
