Bahrain calls for fresh Israeli-Palestinian peace talks

Bahrain’s foreign minister called for fresh Israeli-Palestinian peace talks during a landmark meeting in Israel with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, AFP reported.

Pompeo — President Donald Trump’s top diplomat, on a farewell visit to Israel — did not address Israel’s dispute with the Palestinians, who have protested his planned trip to a Jewish-owned business in the occupied West Bank.

According to AFP, Bahrain’s Abdellatif Al-Zayani said the historic US-brokered deals the Gulf kingdom and the UAE had struck to normalize ties with Israel would help foster a dawn of “peace for the entire Middle East.”

“To achieve and consolidate such peace, the Palestinian and Israeli conflict needs to be resolved,” the minister said as Pompeo and Netanyahu stood by at a joint press conference.

“I therefore call for both parties to get around the negotiating table to achieve a viable two-state solution,” said Bahrain’s first minister on an official visit to Jerusalem, where both sides agreed to set up embassies in each others’ countries.