Sun 25 October 2020:
Israeli officials believe Oman is next in line to normalize relations with Israel in the near future, following the Jewish state’s blitz of deals with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and most recently Sudan, according to a report Saturday.
Israeli officials believe that Oman will soon sign a normalization deal with Israel under US sponsorship, Israeli Channel 12 reported.
The channel, however, said that the normalization of the Israeli-Omani relations would likely take place after the US election.
Oman hailed the accords between Israel and the two Gulf states last month, expressing hope they would “contribute to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East.”
Muscat so far has not commented on the Israeli media report.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed recently that “other countries will follow”, in reference to Israel’s normalization deals with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Sudan.
On Friday US President Donald Trump predicted that Saudi Arabia would soon forge ties with Israel.
Speaking to reporters as he held a three-way phone conversation with the prime ministers of Israel and Sudan to announce their normalization agreement, Trump said at least another five Arab nations wanted to join the diplomatic bandwagon, which saw the inking of similar agreements involving Bahrain and the UAE last month.
Saudi Arabia also approved the use of Saudi airspace for Israeli flights to the UAE, a decision announced the day after Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh.
In 2018, Netanyahu made a surprise visit to Oman and met with late Sultan Qaboos bin Saeed.
On Friday, US President Donald Trump announced that Sudan and Israel agreed to normalize their relations.
Sudan became the fifth Arab country to establish official ties with Israel following Egypt in 1979, Jordan in 1994 and both UAE and Bahrain in September 2020.
