Israel, Bahrain to sign new diplomatic agreement on Sunday: report

Israeli and US officials will sign an agreement in Bahrain to establish the opening of embassies in the respective countries.

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab Staff

17 October, 2020

Bahrain and Israel will sign a diplomatic agreement following the normalisation deal. [Getty]

Israel and Bahrain are set to sign a declaration on the establishment of diplomatic relations on Sunday, Israeli media reports said, paving the way for the opening of embassies.

Citing senior American and Israeli officials, The Jerusalem Post reported that the declaration will serve as an interim agreement between the countries.

The signing ceremony will take place Bahrain's capital Manama and will be attended by senior officials from both Israel and Bahrain, as well as US Secretary of Treasury Steve Mnuchin and White House special representative for international negotiations Avi Berkowitz.

US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman will also join the US delegation, the Treasury Department said in a statement.

The US delegation will fly on the first-ever direct commercial flight from Israel to Bahrain, according to the statement.

After the visit to Bahrain, the US delegation is set to depart to Abu Dhabi, where Secretary Mnuchin will participate in the "first-ever Abraham Accords Business Summit", the department said.

The agreement includes a pledge by both Israel and Bahrain to not take hostile actions against each other, as well as to act to prevent hostile actions by a third party.

According to reports, the agreement will also outline cooperation in areas of investment, civil aviation, tourism, trade, science and technology, environment, communications, health, agriculture, water, energy and legal cooperation.

Read also: Majority of Arabs reject normalisation with Israel: Poll

The agreement comes after the Israeli Knesset's ratification of the UAE-Israel normalisation agreement signed earlier this week and after weeks of US-led negotiations.

Bahrain became the fourth Arab state to normalise relations with Israel in September, after the UAE, Egypt and Jordan. The deal was slammed by Palestinians as a betrayal to their cause.

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