WhatsappNothing is ever set in stone when it comes to geopolitical arrangements in the Middle East. This is especially the case when such arrangements are built on a superficial quid pro quo as is the case with the Sudan-Israel Peace deal.
With President Trump still trying to stop a Biden administration from being established, Sudan sees weakness on the part of the US administration. The interim government in Sudan never liked the deal, but swallowed to get taken off the international terrorism list in order to begin getting massive investments from overseas. Now it wants to ensure this happens before President Trump leaves office and according to a corroborated NY Times report is now threatening to pull out of the deal unless the US government passes legislation to remove it from the State Department’s State Sponsors of Terrorism (SST) list by the end of the year.
On the other hand, Bahrain and Israel appear to be only tightening their cooperation with the visit of Tourism Minister Zayed bin Rashid Al-Zayani, visit to Israel. Both he and Prime Minister Netanyahu signed a number of MOUs.
“The tourism openness with the State of Israel within the framework of the declaration of support for peace concluded between the two parties will have a great impact on enriching the tourism sector and supporting it between the two countries,” Al-Zayani was quoted by his country’s state-owned Bahrain News Agency (BNA) as saying.
During the visit Al-Zayani created a stir when he insisted that Bahrain would treat all Israeli products no matter if they are made in pre-1967 or post-1967 Israel as Israeli.
“We will treat Israeli products as Israeli products. So we have no issue with labelling or origin,” the Bahrain minister said.
Bahrain’s position visa vi Israeli “settlements” appears to parallel the UAE’s and indicates that the “Palestinian” issue is no longer important to the Sunni-Arab state. This stance further alienates the “Palestinians” and pushes back on the incoming Biden administration’s assumed policy of reviving the failed Palestinian Authority. Essentially, Bahrain and the UAE are making it known that any American policy that weakens Israel is opposed by them as well.
