Israel and Bahrain will officially establish diplomatic relations on Sunday at a ceremony in Manama as the wealthy Gulf region continues to open up to the Jewish state.
An Israeli delegation, led by National Security Council chief Meir Ben Shabbat, arrived from Tel Aviv for a one-day trip that will see Israel and Bahrain formalise a US-brokered agreement they signed at the White House on September 15.
The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain became only the third and fourth Arab states to agree to normalise ties with Israel, following Israel’s 1979 peace deal with Egypt and a 1994 pact with Jordan.
A flurry of diplomacy between some of Washington’s key regional allies has handed U.S. President Donald Trump a key foreign policy win as he campaigns for re-election ahead of polls in November.
“Bahrain and Israel will sign a joint communique on the establishment of diplomatic, peaceful and friendly relations, as well as a number of memorandums of understanding in areas of mutual benefit,” according to a joint statement.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Mr. Trump’s special assistant for international negotiations, Avi Berkowitz, joined the Israeli delegation’s flight to Manama.
