Monitoring Desk:
Oman’s Foreign Minister spoke to his Israeli counterpart for the first time after the United Arab Emirates (UAE) normalized relations with the Jewish State. Yusuf bin Alawi subsequently spoke with a top Palestinian official as well, Muscat said.
The UAE, Israel deal announced by United States President Donald Trump on Thursday, is only the third such accord Israel has struck with an Arab country and raises the prospect of similar deals with other pro-Western Gulf states.
Bin Alawi and Israel’s Gabi Ashkenazi spoke via telephone about “recent developments in the region”, Oman’s foreign ministry said on Twitter. Bin Alawi told Ashkenazi that Oman “clearly reaffirms its position calling for a comprehensive, just and lasting peace” in the Middle East.
Bin Alawi also called for a “resumption of the peace process in order to satisfy the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people who aspire to an independent state”. Also on Monday, bin Alawi spoke with senior Fatah official Jibril Rajub, who expressed his “appreciation of the role of the sultanate and its balanced and wise policy towards Arab issues and, foremost, the Palestinian question”, according to Oman’s foreign ministry.
The Palestinian Authority has voiced its “strong rejection and condemnation” of the Israeli-Emirati deal.
