Bahrain on Monday announced it is considering establishing a defensepartnership with Israel, following the controversial normalizationagreement between the two countries, according to the official Bahrain NewsAgency (BNA).
According to BNA, in a phone call, Bahraini Defense Minister Abdullahal-Nuaimi and his Israeli counterpart, Benny Gantz discussed the “commonexpectations of establishing a close partnership between the two defenseministries.”
According to the news agency, the partnership “would contribute toenhancing the capabilities of the two countries and maintaining regionalsecurity.”
Gantz offered to “host his Bahraini counterpart on an official visit toIsrael, and they agreed to continue the dialogue together,” BNA said.
On Friday, Bahrain and Israel announced a US-brokered agreement tonormalize their relations, in a move one month after a similar deal betweenIsrael and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
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Bahrain became the fourth Arab country to have diplomatic relations withIsrael, after Egypt in 1979, Jordan 1994, and the UAE in August 2020.
The normalization deals have drawn widespread condemnations from thePalestinians, who say that such agreements do not serve the Palestiniancause and ignore the rights of Palestinians.
The Palestinian Authority said any deal with Israel should be based on the2002 Arab Peace Initiative on the principle of “land for peace” and not”peace for peace” as Israel claims. – Anadolu Agency
