A historic flight with US and Israeli officials on board arrived in Bahrain on Sunday to finalize the terms of the normalization deal between the Jewish state and the Gulf country.
The delegation was received by Bahrain's foreign minister, Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa. At the welcoming ceremony on the tarmac, the minister welcomed the officials, saying this movement should be celebrated as a "step toward a stable and prosperous Middle East."
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US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who heads the delegation, said that he hoped that the US would soon be able to announce more agreements between Israel and Arab states.
Israeli National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat said at the ceremony that "Israel has an outstretched hand for real peace, and we look forward to hosting you too."
The officials arrived on a US Air Force aircraft just over a month after Israel, the UAE and Bahrain signed their historic normalization deals on the White House lawn. Experts believe that both Gulf countries got the blessing of Saudi Arabia for normalizing ties with Jerusalem, and this was also apparent in Riyadh's recent decision to grant Israeli carriers overflight rights over the kingdom.
President Trump has repeatedly said that more countries are expected to join this initiative with Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed the new thaw in relations betwen Israel and Arab countries was proof that Israel can make peace without making territorial concessions and that normalization was not contingent on progress in Israeli-Palestinian talks. Both Israel and the Sunni Gulf states share a concern over Iran's malign influence and meddling in the region, and the newly announced ties reflect this de facto alliance.
Israeli officials are expected to sign a deceleration of principles with their Bahrain counterparts as a way to move toward full-fledged normalization.
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