US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he believes Saudi Arabia will followBahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in fully normalizing relationswith Israel.
Trump told reporters at the White House that the Kingdom is among severalcountries he believes are on the verge of opening diplomatic ties with TelAviv, saying that after speaking with King Salman, he thinks the countrywill do so “at the right time.”
“We have many other countries going to be joining us, and they’re going tobe joining us soon,” Trump said just hours after Bahrain and the UAEofficially signed documents normalizing ties with Israel.
The president further increased the number of nations he says are close tofollowing in the steps of the two Arab Gulf nations “fairly rapidly” aftersaying earlier Tuesday that it was five or six.
“We’ll have 7 or 8 or 9. We’re going to have a lot of other countriesjoining us, including the big ones,” he said.
During Tuesday’s formal signing ceremony, Trump said the agreements wouldend “decades of division and conflict” in the region and usher in the “dawnof a new Middle East.”
“Thanks to the courage of the leaders of these three countries, we take amajor stride toward a future in which people of all faiths and backgroundslive together in peace and prosperity,” Trump said, addressing hundreds ofguests assembled for the event on the South Lawn of the White House.
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Bahrain became the fourth Arab country to establish diplomatic relationswith Israel last Friday after Egypt in 1979, Jordan in 1994 and the UAE inAugust.
In addition to the bilateral agreements signed between Israel and the Arabnations, all three and the US signed the mutual pact Trump and hisadministration call the “Abraham Accords.”
Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Alzayani described theagreements as an “important first step” toward establishing greater peacein the region.
“It is now incumbent on us to work urgently and actively to bring about thelasting peace and security our peoples deserve. A just, comprehensive andenduring two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict will be thefoundation, the bedrock of such peace,” he said. – Anadolu Agency
