Middle East
“You can see nations coming to understand that the Palestinians have rejected reasonable offers to negotiate time and time again. The leadership has simply failed its own people,” says U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Jonathan Schanzer at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies said that U.S. President Donald Trump “is unwittingly undermining American deterrence in the Middle East.”
“I think Gulf states are hoping that Joe Biden will govern as a centrist with an experienced team and will address the weaknesses of the JCPOA,” said Ali Shihabi, an author and commentator on the Middle East with a focus on Saudi Arabia.
The Israeli premier thanks America for recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights and brokering the Abraham Accords.
Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani met with his counterpart, Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem, where they made the announcement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hosted U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani as part of a trilateral meeting to discuss advancing the Abraham Accords.
He told the 2020 Virtual Global Security Forum that the move by Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates to normalize relations with Israel were “their own sovereign decisions.”
“It is important to demonstrate that the UAE and Bahrain are two separate countries,” said Global Research’s Mitchell Barak. “While we are being sold that they are like cousins, they have very different opinions about Israel and in general.”
Such a link would be “shorter, faster, cheaper and safer” than currently used trade routes, says the Bank of Israel.
Following the signing of the Abraham Accords, a surge in interest in visiting Bahrain has come from Jewish business and leisure travelers.
“The Gulf states are not considered ‘kosher’ for leading the Sunnis,” according to Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak, an expert on Turkey at the Moshe Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University.
Al Khalifa made an “important contribution” to peace between Israel and Bahrain, says the Israeli premier.
