US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met today in Muscat, Sultan of Oman, Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, at the end of a tour he made in Sudan and the Middle East, to encourage Arab countries to normalize their relations with Israel after the UAE announced two weeks ago the full normalization of its relations with Tel Aviv.
Pompeo said in a tweet on Twitter that he discussed with the Sultan of Oman "the importance of building peace, stability, and prosperity through a unified Gulf Cooperation Council." The Oman News Agency reported that Sultan Haitham reviewed with the US minister aspects of cooperation between the Sultanate and the United States within the framework of the close relations that bind them.
Pompeo is the first high-ranking Western official to meet the new Sultan of Oman, who succeeded Sultan Qaboos bin Said, who died in January after assuming power over the sultanate for nearly 50 years. The visit of the US Secretary of State to Muscat comes as part of a regional tour that included Israel, Sudan, Bahrain and the UAE.
The King of Bahrain
Yesterday, the King of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, told Secretary Pompeo that Manama is committed to the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which provides for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in exchange for normalization of relations with Israel, which is the same position that Saudi Arabia expressed a few days ago. The position of the King of Bahrain constitutes an implicit refusal to normalize relations with Israel soon.
The Bahraini and Omani authorities had welcomed the normalization agreement between Abu Dhabi and Manama, after Washington's mediation.
Israeli Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen expected, days after the announcement of the Emirati-Israeli normalization agreement, that Bahrain and Oman would be the next Gulf states that formalize relations with Israel.
The Wall Street Journal:
Pompeo failed in his mission in Khartoum (normalization relations with Israel) due to the presence of Islamic leaders in the ranks of the government and the army!
You know why they would like to kill and demonize all that is Islamic, the alliance of Mbz, to pave the way to Tel Aviv!
Oh God , Let them heel they Kmalk (men believed Maahdoa Allah be upon him)
Zul will not be printed
- Alia Abu Tayeh Al-Huwaiti (@Alya_Alhwaiti) August 27, 2020
Visiting Sudan
In Sudan, to which the US Secretary of State came on a direct trip from Tel Aviv for the first time, Pompeo met with Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok, who told him that his government “does not have a mandate” to make a decision on normalization with Israel, as it is a government managing a transitional phase, It is assumed that it will end in the year 2022 with elections that produce a new government.
In a related context, the Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization Saeb Erekat said that the Palestinian leadership is conducting intensive contacts with various Arab countries to prevent the establishment of normalization relations with Israel.
Erekat added in a press conference in Ramallah that the UAE’s decision to normalize "is contrary to the Arab consensus," noting that Abu Dhabi has severed its ties with Palestine since 2011, adding, "It seems that this was done at the time, for today," in reference to normalization with Tel Aviv.