Oman says time to accept Israel in region, offers help for peace

[Chakar The Great]

MANAMA: Oman described Israel as an accepted Middle East state on Saturday, a day after hosting a surprise visit by its prime minister that Washington said could help regional peace efforts.

Oman is offering ideas to help Israel and the Palestinians to come together but is not acting as mediator, Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, the sultanates minister responsible for foreign affairs, told a security summit in Bahrain.

“Israel is a state present in the region, and we all understand this,” bin Alawi said.

“The world is also aware of this fact. Maybe it is time for Israel to be treated the same [as others states] and also bear the same obligations.” His comments followed a rare visit to Oman by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu which came days after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas paid a three-day visit to the Gulf country. Both leaders met with Oman’s Sultan Qaboos.

“We are not saying that the road is now easy and paved with flowers, but our priority is to put an end to the conflict and move to a new world,” bin Alawi told the summit.

Oman is relying on the United States and efforts by President Donald Trump in working towards the “deal of the century” (Middle East peace), he added.

Bahrain voices support for Oman

Bahrain’s foreign minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa voiced support for Oman over the sultanate’s role in trying to secure Israeli-Palestinian peace, while Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir said the kingdom believes the key to normalising relations with Israel was the peace process. The three-day summit was attended by Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis, and his counterparts in Italy and Germany also participated, but Jordan’s King Abdullah cancelled his appearance after a flood that hit the Dead Sea region killed 21 people.

Trumps Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt welcomed the “warming ties & growing cooperation between our regional friends” in a tweet late on Friday.

“This is a helpful step for our peace efforts & essential to create an atmosphere of stability, security & prosperity between Israelis, Palestinians & their neighbours. Looking forward to seeing more meetings like this! Greenblatt said.

Israel and some Gulf states share an interest in curbing Iran’s influence in the region.

Oman has long been to the Middle East what neutral Switzerland is to global diplomacy. The country helped to mediate secret US-Iran talks in 2013 that led to the historic nuclear deal signed in Geneva two years later.

Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2018

 

[Oublious]

I wonder what is Israel offering for the peace, back in the day camp david with Arafat they offered a open prison. So lets wait and see how that gulfies are selling Palestine.

 

[Yaseen1]

Oman and every gulf which makes israel friend will be soon captured by israel.Such leaders of Muslim world are disaster.Tomorrow they will support india

 

[litman]

you need to be on side of dajjal if you want ease in this world in the present world. testing time for muslims today. but very few of us know the nature of the test and even fewer are ready to chose the path of sacrifice for Allah's sake.

 

[Imran Khan]

good move

 

[litman]

muslim countries will have to accept israel otherwise they will face economic collapse, internal fighting and then invasion by bigger powers. the moment some arab countries will accept israel we will see many so called think tanks of our tv channels saying that pak should also accept israel. lengthy articles will be written in dawn and the news and many educated liberal pakistanis will be raising their voice in support of it.

 

[BHarwana]

Very sad to see Oman is not doing justice by recognising illegitimate regime.

 

[925boy]

It is my hope and belief that GCC muslims wont allow their govts sell Palestine for nothing. Any govt that sells Palestinian interests for nothing is comparable to hitler.dignity of muslims in middle east seems to be at an all time low. Looks like Islam in the middle east is going through a very tough time because muslims seem to only want to fight themselves these days.they fight the "extremists" in Iran and the "dictator"in Syria and the "terrorists in yemen",but they r all muslims.but now is apparently the time to accept non Muslim oppressor of Palestinians called Israel?to all the puss* as* GCC countries that see aligning with Israel as the only solution to iran- you have proven u are weaker than ants and confirmed u are in fact inferior.nuff said

 

[UKBengali]

These gulf-regimes are useless and devoid of any honour.

Palestine is occupied by Jews who have no business being there in first place.

 

[Imran Khan]

for one palastine you guys want to burn whole damn earth ?

 

[jamal18]

I wonder what is Israel offering for the peace, back in the day camp david with Arafat they offered a open prison. So lets wait and see how that gulfies are selling Palestine.

A state that eats up more Arab land every day since the day it was created, is the agent of all the recent discord in the Middle-east, from the invasion of Iraq to the creation of Isis and is going for 'Greater Israel' wants to live in peace?

Dream on. They will find out like Saddam Husain and Gadaffi, that appeasement doesn't work.

 

[BHarwana]

for one palastine you guys want to burn whole damn earth ?

For one Israel you want to burn the whole Damn earth?

 

[Dubious]

for one palastine you guys want to burn whole damn earth ?

Yea like accepting that damned country will solve all world order? You think once it manages to get acceptance it will stop there? History has shown us their belly for evil is an endless pit!

 

[LeGenD]

These gulf-regimes are useless and devoid of any honour.

Palestine is occupied by Jews who have no business being there in first place.

Jews have a long history of livelihood in Palestine [lived there throughout since the era of Prophet Musa PBUH]. This region used to be a part of ancient Jewish kingdoms.

We - as neutral observers - cannot say that Jews have no business being there in the first place. They have legitimate claims in there.

 

[UKBengali]

Jews have a long history of livelihood in Palestine [lived there throughout since the era of Prophet Musa PBUH]. This region used to be a part of ancient Jewish kingdoms.

We cannot say that Jews have no business being there in the first place.

Some Jews do have a right to live in Palestine under Palestinian Arab rule.

The vast majority have no business being there and stealing someone else's land in the process.

Ancient Jewish Kingdoms are irrelevant in the modern world - by that logic so many other people's scattered from the lands of their ancestors 2-3000 years ago would also be able to do the same.