Bahrain has become the latest Arab nation to normalise ties with Israel under a deal brokered by the United States. The deal comes nearly a month after the United Arab Emirates agreed to a similar deal with Israel, as part of a wider diplomatic push in the region by President Donald Trump.
Announcing the agreement on Friday, following a three-way phone call that he had with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, President Trump said Israel and the Gulf state of Bahrain have reached a landmark deal to fully normalise their relations.
In a joint statement, the United States, Bahrain and Israel said: “Opening direct dialogue and ties between these two dynamic societies and advanced economies will continue the positive transformation of the Middle East and increase stability, security, and prosperity in the region.”
In a nod to the long simmering Palestinian problem that lies at the core of many issues in the region, the joint statement added that Bahrain, Israel and the US will continue efforts “to achieve a just, comprehensive, and enduring resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to enable the Palestinian people to realise their full potential.”
Palestinians fear the moves by Bahrain and the UAE will weaken a longstanding pan-Arab position that calls for Israeli withdrawal from all illegally occupied territory and acceptance of Palestinian statehood in return for normal relations with Arab countries. Palestinian leaders denounced the Bahrain Israel deal as “another treacherous stab to the Palestinian cause” and Palestine recalled its envoy in Manama for consultations.
A statement from the court of King Hamad Al Khalifa later said that the agreement “is in the interest of the security, stability and prosperity of the region, and sends a positive and encouraging message to the people of Israel that a just and comprehensive peace with the Palestinian people is the best way and the true interest for their future and the future of the peoples of the region.”
Bahrain’s Information Minister Ali bin Mohammed Al Romaihi added that the agreement is a “historic, significant step toward peace in the region”. He further noted that, “All historical precedents confirm that all the Kingdom’s initiatives and decisions have always been in the interest of the Palestinian people and protecting them, and no one can outbid the Kingdom in this regard.”
The UAE has welcomed the decision by the Kingdom of Bahrain to establish relations with Israel. In a statement on Friday, the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation commended the move, expressing its hope that establishing relations would have a positive effect on the climate for peace and cooperation regionally and internationally. The Ministry also noted that the move represents a significant step towards an era of security and prosperity, underscoring that it would expand the scope of economic, cultural, scientific, and diplomatic avenues of cooperation.
The deal between Bahrain and Israel represents another diplomatic triumph for Trump less than two months before the presidential election. Incidentally, the announcement of the Bahrain Israel deal by President Trump on the 19th anniversary of the 11 September, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. In a reference to that date in 2001, President Trump told reporters at the White House that, “There’s no more powerful response to the hatred that spawned 9/11 than this agreement.”
The agreement on Friday comes less than a week before President Trump is scheduled to host a White House ceremony on 15 September that will now see Bahrain along with the UAE formally sign-off on the deal with Israel. The ceremony is expected to be attended by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Foreign Minister of the UAE, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and the Foreign Minister of Bahrain, Abdullatif al-Zayani. The latest agreement makes Bahrain the fourth Arab country, after Egypt in 1979, Jordan in 1994, and the UAE in 2020, to normalize ties with Israel.
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