Oman FM in talks with Israel to visit Al-Aqsa Mosque

Oman's Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi is reportedly in talks with the Israeli Foreign Ministry to coordinate a visit to Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, according to Israel's i24NEWS. The Omani diplomat's planned trip, which is scheduled in the coming weeks, will also include a visit to Ramallah in the occupied West Bank where the Palestinian Authority (PA) is based.

The report cited sources familiar with the matter, who revealed that as part of the negotiations, Israel's Foreign Minister Eli Cohen is attempting to set up a rare meeting with Albusaidi, although it hasn't been confirmed if Albusaidi will give his consent to the high level meeting and where it would take place.

Talks between Muscat and Tel Aviv come amid growing speculation that the sultanate will be the next Arab state to normalise ties with Israel, joining Gulf states Bahrain and the UAE who signed the Abraham Accords in 2020, later signed by Arab states Morocco and Sudan.

In February, Oman joined Saudi Arabia in agreeing to open their airspace to Israeli airliners, despite not having formal diplomatic ties with the occupation state. At the time, Cohen thanked Oman's ruler, Sultan Haitham Bin Tariq Al-Said, describing it as a "historic decision that will shorten the route to Asia, lower costs for Israelis and help Israeli airlines be more competitive."

READ: US, Iranian officials hold indirect meetings in Oman

Less than a month after the move, i24NEWS reported that Cohen held a rare phone call with his Omani counterpart. Sources claimed the two discussed matters relating to the opening of the skies and "addressed the heightened tensions between Israel and the Palestinians ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan."

Earlier this month, in an interview with Al-Monitor, Albusaidi touched on the issue of normalisation with Israel, saying: "We are open to a relationship with Israel, but not at the expense of ignoring [and] closing the door on the Palestinians."

"Any fully-fledged relationship with Israel also needs to be matched in parallel with a fully-fledged relationship and recognition of the State of Palestine."

Last month, the Omani Foreign Ministry denounced the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque as part of the "Flag March" by an Israeli government official and members of the Knesset, "guarded by the occupying forces."

"The statement denounced these continuous violations as a provocation that inflames the feelings of Muslims adding that they represent a violation of international law," the ministry said.

READ: Oman sets conditions for full normalisation with Israel

Unless otherwise stated in the article above, this work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them. What does that mean? For other permissions, please contact us.

Spotted an error on this page? Let us know

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Δ