Israeli and US officials to visit Bahrain this Sunday

A delegation comprising Israeli representatives and US officials will come to Bahrain next Sunday for talks, Reuters quoting unnamed sources said.

This came as Israel’s cabinet yesterday approved a normalization deal with the United Arab Emirates and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he and Abu Dhabi’s crown prince had spoken and agreed to meet soon.

Reuters quoting a source familiar with plans for the delegations’ visits said Israeli representatives accompanied by US officials will fly to Bahrain on Oct. 18 and travel on to the UAE the next day before returning to Israel with a UAE team on Oct. 20.

Israel and Bahrain, which signed a “declaration of peace” at the White House ceremony last month, are still discussing details of a full accord, the report added.

Prospects of peace

Meanwhile, in a tweet yesterday, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan said that he and Netanyahu had discussed strengthening bilateral ties and the prospects for peace in the area.

In an official statement that coincided with an Israeli cabinet vote approving the Sept. 15 agreement with the UAE, Netanyahu said he and Sheikh Mohammed would meet soon, without specifying a date.

“At the weekend, I spoke with my friend, the crown prince ... and invited him to visit Israel,” Netanyahu said. “He invited me to visit Abu Dhabi. But first, we will see a UAE delegation here and another one of our delegations will go there.”

Netanyahu added: “We spoke about cooperation that we are promoting in investment, tourism, energy, technology and other spheres”.

In a sign of burgeoning Israel-UAE cooperation, a ship from the UAE docked on Monday at Israel’s port of Haifa, carrying a cargo of 15 containers along a shipping line between India, the UAE, Israel and the United States.

The normalisation accord has already inspired commercial deal-making with the Gulf’s trade, finance, tourism and travel hub. Israeli cabinet approval of the accord with the UAE opened the way for Israel’s parliament to ratify it, in a vote likely to be held later this week.