The US Treasury Department announced in a statement that Secretary Stephen Mnuchin will lead a delegation to visit Israel, Bahrain and the UAE during the period: from today, Saturday, until October 20.
This visit comes a month after the UAE and Bahrain signed two agreements to normalize relations with Israel, making them the first Arab countries to take this step in 25 years.
Israeli press sources talked a few days ago about the visit of a joint Israeli-American delegation to Manama tomorrow, Sunday, to start drafting the terms of the normalization agreement between Tel Aviv and Manama, while the American delegation will return later to Tel Aviv with an Emirati delegation.
The Israeli website "Wella" reported that the visit comes at a request from Manama, which wants its relations with Israel to be subject to conditions similar to those included in the normalization agreement between Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi.
According to the site, the joint delegation will embark on a direct flight from Tel Aviv to Manama via Saudi airspace, and the visit is supposed to last 24 hours.
The Israeli delegation will return after the visit, and the American will head to Abu Dhabi to accompany an Emirati delegation to Israel, headed by the UAE Ministers of Economy and Finance, to hold meetings with the Prime Minister and Israeli officials, and to sign 18 cooperation agreements.