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Pompeo starts Middle East tour in Israel
JERUSALEM, Aug 24, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
visited Jerusalem on Monday to start a five-day Middle East tour focused on
Israel’s normalising of ties with the United Arab Emirates and pushing other
Arab states to follow suit.
Pompeo, wearing a face mask in the colours of the American flag, met Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and was in coming days also due to visit Sudan,
Bahrain and the UAE, the State Department said.
Washington and its close ally Israel hope that the Jewish state will soon
be able to normalise ties with other regional countries traditionally hostile
to Israel — including several that share the US, UAE’s and Israeli animosity
toward Iran.
In Jerusalem, Pompeo and Netanyahu were due to discuss “regional security
issues related to Iran’s malicious influence” and “establishing and deepening
Israel’s relationships in the region,” the State Department said.
Pompeo was also to meet his counterpart Gabi Ashkenazi and Defence Minister
Benny Gantz, who is also Israel’s alternate prime minister under a power-
sharing deal.
Netanyahu said earlier he and Pompeo would talk about “expanding the circle
of peace in our region … We’re working on peace with more countries, and I
think there will be more countries — and in the not-so-distant future”.
Israel had previously only signed peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan,
which unlike the UAE share borders with Israel and had technically been at
war with the Jewish state.
– ‘Legacy of hostility’ –
Most Arab League members still do not recognise Israel, which was founded
in 1948 — but some of them have sent signals of a potential thaw.
Oman and Bahrain were among those who greeted the US-brokered Israel-UAE
agreement.
The pro-Netanyahu daily Israel Hayom said Sunday that direct talks with the
UAE on the wording of the deal were close to starting and that “a full
agreement could be reached within a month” with a signing at the White House.
MORE/FI/ 1428 hrs
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Under the US-brokered agreement announced on August 13, Israel pledged to
suspend its previous plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank, without
saying for how long.
The Palestinians have slammed the UAE’s move as a “stab in the back” while
their own conflict with the Jewish state remains unresolved.
The Islamist group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, Monday charged that
the Israel-UAE deal helps “maintain crimes and violations” against the
Palestinians and urged regional and world leaders to “break their silence to
bring an end” to the Gaza blockade.
In the latest upsurge of violence, Israel has bombed the coastal strip
almost daily since August 6, while balloons carrying fire bombs and, less
frequently, rocket fire have hit Israel from Gaza.
The UAE ambassador to Washington, writing in Israel’s Yediot Aharonot
newspaper, argued that closer Israel ties would “help move the region beyond
the ugly legacy of hostility and conflicts, towards a destiny of hope, peace
and prosperity”.
– Bahrain, Oman, Sudan? –
The Israel-Emirati pact has sparked speculation on which regional country
might be next, with frequent mentions made of Bahrain and Sudan, which is
turning its back on the era of strongman Omar al-Bashir who was ousted last
year.
Israel remains technically at war with Sudan, which for years had supported
hardline Islamist forces.
The State Department said Pompeo would meet Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla
Hamdok during his tour, to “express support for deepening the Sudan-Israel
relationship”.
Pompeo will also meet Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa
before meeting UAE foreign minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan to discuss
the Israel deal, it said.
Saudi Arabia, in keeping with decades of policy by the majority of Arab
states, has said it will not follow the UAE’s example until Israel has signed
a peace deal with the Palestinians.
Israel and the UAE say they want to promote trade, especially the sale of
Emirati oil to Israel and Israeli technology to the UAE, establish direct air
links and boost tourism.
Key to that plan would be persuading Saudi Arabia to open its airspace to
Israeli commercial airlines.
Netanyahu has denied reports that the agreement hinges on the sale of US F-
35 stealth fighter-jets to the Emirates, saying he opposes such a move as it
could reduce Israel’s strategic edge in the region.
“The Emiratis are saying there was a promise there, the Israelis are saying
no,” said Joshua Teitelbaum of Bar Ilan University near Tel Aviv, adding that
in the past such objections had been finessed, citing the US sale to Saudi
Arabia of F-15 fighters.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1430 hrs