In dramatic sign of warming ties, Netanyahu makes secret visit
to Oman
The first Israeli leader to visit Muscat since 1996, prime
minister discusses peace process with Sultan Qaboos bin Said
By Raphael Ahren, diplomatic correspondent
The Times Of Israel,
26 October 2018
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
(L) talks with Sultan Qaboos bin Said in Oman on October 26,
2018
(Courtesy)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
(SL), acompanied by his wife Sara, is greeted by Sultan
Qaboos bin
Said in Oman on October 26, 2018 (Courtesy)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
(left) with Sultan Qaboos bin Said in Oman on October 26,
2018
(Courtesy)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) with Sultan Qaboos
bin Said of Oman in the Gulf state on
October 26, 2018 (Courtesy)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a secret visit to the
Gulf nation of Oman on Friday — the first by an Israeli leader
in over two decades, and a sign of warming ties between the
Jewish state and the Sunni Arab world.
On Friday afternoon, his office surprisingly announced that
Netanyahu and his wife Sara had just returned from an “official
diplomatic visit” to Muscat, during which they met with Sultan
Qaboos bin Said.
“The Prime Minister’s visit is a significant step in
implementing the policy outlined by Prime Minister Netanyahu on
deepening relations with the states of the region while
leveraging Israel’s advantages in security, technology and
economic matters,” his office said in a statement.
The last visit by an Israeli leader to Oman took place in 1996,
when Shimon Peres visited.
The Netanyahus were invited to Oman by the sultan, who has been
ruling the Gulf state since 1970, “after lengthy contacts
between the two countries,” the statement said.
A joint statement issued by Jerusalem and Muscat said the two
leaders discussed “ways to advance the peace process in the
Middle East as well as several matters of joint interest
regarding the achievement of peace and stability in the Middle
East.”
Netanyahu and his wife were accompanied to Muscat by Mossad
Director Yossi Cohen, National Security Adviser Meir
Ben-Shabbat, Foreign Ministry Director-General Yuval Rotem, the
head of the Prime Minister’s staff, Yigal Horowitz, and the
Prime Minister’s Military Secretary, Brig.-Gen. Avi Bluth.
Netanyahu’s visit comes just days after Palestinian Authority
President Mahmoud Abbas also met with the Sultan in Muscat.
The two leaders discussed “the latest developments related to
the Palestinian issue” and their countries’ bilateral ties, the
official PA news site Wafa reports.
Netanyahu has for years spoken about the warming ties between
Israel and the Arab world, citing not only Iran as a common
enemy but also many countries’ interest in cooperating with
Israel on security and defense matters, as well as Israel’s
growing high-tech industry.
“You should not underestimate the openness and the thirst in the
Arab world today for Israel,” he said Thursday. “And the reason,
the first reason before anything else, is that we’re there in
innovation.”
Oman, a country of about four and a half million people on the
southeastern coast of the Arabian peninsula, has long been one
of the few Arab states not to shy away from open ties with
Israel.
In 1994, then-prime minister Yitzhak Rabin visited Oman, where
he was greeted by the sultan. In 1995, a few days after Rabin
was assassinated, then-acting prime minister Shimon Peres hosted
Omani foreign minister Yusuf Ibn Alawi in Jerusalem.
In January 1996, Israel and Oman signed an agreement on the
reciprocal opening of trade representative offices.
“Oman believes that the current step will lead to continued
progress in the peace process, and increased stability in the
region,” the Israel Foreign Ministry declared at the time,
adding that the office’s main role will be “to develop
reciprocal economic and trade relations with Oman, as well as
cooperation in the spheres of water, agriculture, medicine and
communications.”
Four months later, Peres visited Oman to officially open “Israel
Trade Representation Offices” there.
Then-prime minister Shimon Peres presents a sculpture of
the dove of peace to Omani Sultan Qaboos
bin Said El
Said in the palace in Salala, April 1, 1996. (Avi
Ohayun/GPO)
Headed by a small team of three Israeli diplomats, the office in
Muscat functioned “basically like a regular embassy — just
without the Israeli flag,” according to an Israel official
stationed in the mission.
The overt ties with Oman didn’t last for even half a decade. In
October 2000, in the wake of the Second Intifada, Omani rulers
felt the public opinion turned against Israel, suspended
relations and closed the mission. The Israeli Foreign Ministry
expressed regret at the decision, emphasizing that the cessation
of contact and dialogue does nothing to advance the peace
process between Israelis and Palestinians. “In days of crisis,
it is especially important that lines of communication between
countries be kept open,” the ministry declared.
However, despite shutting down the Israeli representative
office, located on Muscat’s Al-Adhiba Street, the government of
Oman quietly encouraged Israeli diplomats to stick around, as
long as the ongoing engagement between the two countries stayed
secret.
