Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid Bin Ahmed Al Khalifah and his Israeli counterpart Israel Katz held their first open and public meeting in the US on the sidelines of the Advance Religious Freedom conference on Wednesday.
In a tweet posted yesterday, Katz announced:
“I met publicly with the foreign minister of Bahrain,” and added that he “will continue to work with @IsraeliPM to advance Israel’s relations with the Gulf countries”.
Yesterday I met publicly with the Foreign Minister of Bahrain ?? @khalidalkhalifa at the @statedept Ministerial on Religious Freedom
Another example of our growing diplomatic connections
I will continue to work with @IsraeliPM to advance Israel’s relations with the Gulf countries pic.twitter.com/EElPlWbwiZ— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) July 18, 2019
According to a statement released by Israel’s foreign ministry yesterday, the meeting was “coordinated behind the scenes by the US State Department as part of a conference on religious liberty organized in Washington by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.”
The meeting comes amid increasing Arab normalization with Israel and the gradual build-up of relations with regard to trade, energy, intelligence, and technology.
#Manama To Host Maritime Conference That May Include Israelhttps://t.co/awRyCLSSDA#Bahrain pic.twitter.com/5U1TkqsDyR
— LuaLuaTV (@LuaLuaEnglish) July 17, 2019
In June, a conference was held in Bahrain’s capital Manama in which the economic aspects of the US’ peace deal for the region dubbed the “deal of the century” was presented to an audience of journalists, businessmen, and some Arab states. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Morocco, Jordan, and Egypt were among those who attended the workshop.
The Palestinian Authority (PA), however, along with Kuwait, boycotted the meeting and accused the deal of leaving out the political injustices of the Israeli occupation on Palestinian territory.
Poll shows 80 per cent of Palestinians believe that Arab states have abandoned them and their causehttps://t.co/vfgb9AXdis
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) July 6, 2019
A recent poll has revealed that approximately 80 percent of Palestinians feels betrayed by their Arab neighbors.
(Middle East Monitor, PC, Social Media)
