The announcement that Bahrain seeks to become the fourth Arab country to normalize relations with Israel did not occur in a vacuum. In fact, this development is the end result of years of strengthening ties between the two countries.
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1994: Hebrew Coins and a Jewish Cemetery in Bahrain
The spark was lit in October 1994 when Israeli Minister of the Environment Yossi Sarid met with the Bahraini foreign minister as part of a visit to discuss environmental issues in the Middle East. During the visit to Bahrain, the Israeli delegation was taken to the national museum where they were shown ancient Hebrew coins that the hosts believed demonstrated that a trade relationship existed between the Jews of Israel and the people who lived in the region of Bahrain. The delegation was also taken to an ancient Jewish cemetery in the capital Manama, during which the hosts emphasized that they are protecting it from any desecration.
Following the trip, Minister Sarid reported to the Knesset:
My visit to Bahrain was used first and foremost to open a direct line of communication between Israel and Bahrain, so we can achieve mutual understanding and work together and ultimately establish relations between our two countries. During my visit, I met with the Bahraini foreign minister and with its health minister, who is responsible for environmental matters in his country.
The Bahraini foreign minister asked me to convey a message of peace to the Israeli people, his determination and desire to see the peace process succeed, and to establish economic cooperation with Israel. He viewed the meeting between the working groups on environmental issues and my visit there as the first in a number of stages which would lead to closer relations between the two countries.
Reversing Course on Palestinian Refugees
The US ambassador to Bahrain, William Monroe, met with Bahraini king Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifa on February 15, 2005. During the meeting, the king told Monroe that his country had intelligence contacts with Israel and that they would be willing to explore expanding the relationship to other areas. He also told Monroe that he told the Bahraini information minister to cease referring to Israel as the “enemy” or the “Zionist entity.”
In October 2007, the Bahraini foreign minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed Al Khalifa met with a delegation from the American Jewish Committee and told them that he does not believe that Palestinian refugees should return to Israel – breaking from the decades-old Arab demand that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians be allowed to return to Israel proper. He also met with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni at the UN General Assembly that same month.
Related Reading: The History and Failure of the Arab Boycott of Israel
Reaching Out to the Israeli Public?
When Benjamin Netanyahu became prime minister in 2009, Khalifa relayed a message to the Israeli government that he would be willing to meet with Netanyahu to try and advance the peace process. On July 16 of that same year Bahrain’s crown prince, Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, called for Arab leaders to address the Israeli public directly and not through secretive government channels.
US envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell met with the crown prince on July 28, and the prince told Mitchell that he wanted to address the fears of the Israeli people in order to empower Netanyahu to advance peace in the region. However, the meeting with Netanyahu and a direct appeal to the Israeli people never occurred.
Bahrain Publicly Denounces Arab League Boycott of Israel
The most dramatic step in the relationship between the two countries took place in September 2017, when the king publicly denounced the Arab League boycott of Israel in an event at the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles and told his citizens that they were free to travel to Israel.
Related Reading: The Three Noes That Set the Mideast on Course of Conflict
Bahrain recognized Israel’s right to exist in May 2018, the foreign ministers of the two countries met in the United States in July 2019, and in December 2019 the chief rabbi of Jerusalem attended an interfaith conference in Bahrain.
Israel has been reaching out to Arab countries for decades in an attempt to make peace with its neighbors. The announcement of the upcoming normalization between Israel and Bahrain, on the heels of the Israel-UAE peace agreement, demonstrates once again that those efforts are now bearing fruit.
A more peaceful Middle East seems closer than ever to becoming a reality.
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Feature image: Benjamin Netanyahu via Wikimedia; King Hamed bin Issa via Wikimedia.
