v Hot on the heels of last week’s conference in Bahrain, where an Israeli delegation participated and Israeli journalists were accredited for the first time, there are more signs of a thawing in the relations between Israel and the Arab Gulf countries.
On Sunday, Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz visited Abu Dhabi to take part in a United Nations climate change summit. Although Mr Katz did not openly meet any Arab ministers, such a public visit is still a rare occurrence. He called it a “significant upgrade in the connection between Israel and the states of the region.”
Mr Katz, who until recently was Israel’s transport minister, used the summit to present his “Tracks to Regional Peace” plan, which envisages rail links, through Jordan, between Israel’s Haifa port and the Gulf states.
Meanwhile, the status of Israel’s relations with another small Arab state remains unclear. Mossad chief Yossi Cohen — who plays a central role in secret diplomacy with Arab countries — said publicly this week that Israel was set to open a representative office in Oman.
But the foreign ministry refused to comment on the matter, while the Omani foreign ministry said in a tweet it was “baseless”.
Oman was the first Arab country without formal diplomatic ties with Israel to host Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he met Sultan Qaboos in Muscat last October. But the official Omani position remains that of the Arab Peace Initiative: tat diplomatic ties between Israel and the Arab states will be established only following a peace solution between Israel and the Palestinians. Last week, the Omanis also announced they would open an embassy to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah.