Top Diplomats from US, Bahrain Arrive in Israel for Historic Summit

An official Israeli source told The Media Line the two men quickly forged an especially strong bond, adding that they expected “quite a few” bilateral agreements, ranging from economic cooperation to joint technological initiatives, to be signed.

Among other things, the two countries plan to open embassies by the end of the year. Unlike with the UAE, the sides have yet to sign a visa-exemption pact, although Ashkenazi noted that Bahraini citizens wishing to travel to Israel will now be able to apply through a new designated website.

Zayani also discussed the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian dispute and the need for peace.

“I continue to emphasize, in all my meetings, that in order to achieve and consolidate such peace, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict needs to be resolved. I therefore call for both parties to join around the negotiating table to achieve a viable two-state solution, as is also sought by the international community,” he said.

“I continue to emphasize, in all my meetings, that in order to achieve and consolidate such peace, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict needs to be resolved. I therefore call for both parties to join around the negotiating table to achieve a viable two-state solution, as is also sought by the international community.”

Ashkenazi, too, touched on the dispute, saying: “The region has known too many conflicts and too many wars. It is time for peace. Our door is open to renew negotiations with [the Palestinian Authority].”

On Tuesday, the PA announced it was renewing security coordination with Jerusalem. This came nearly six months after it suspended such ties in protest over Israeli plans to annex parts of the West Bank.

Ramallah has vehemently condemned Bahrain and the other Arab states that have normalized or are looking to normalize ties with the Jewish state, saying these moves come at the expense of the Palestinians.

It is also critical of Pompeo and one of the stops on his three-day itinerary while in Israel. According to the State Department, the outgoing secretary will visit a winery in a settlement in the West Bank. He will also go sightseeing in the Golan Heights.

Both are territories that were conquered by Israel during the 1967 war and have since remained in dispute according to international resolutions.

For at least one person, though, there was no controversy.

“We are looking forward to [a stop by Pompeo] and are making preparations, even though we haven’t received any official confirmation of his visit,” Yaakov Berg, CEO of the Psagot Winery, located east of Ramallah, told The Media Line.

“Israel never had a more loving and supportive and serious and smart and reasonable administration than Trump’s, and I hope that the new Biden administration will learn from it because you can’t argue with the results,” he said.

“Israel never had a more loving and supportive and serious and smart and reasonable administration than Trump’s, and I hope that the new Biden administration will learn from it because you can’t argue with the results.”

Last year, the small winery made headlines when a European Union court decreed that its products – and all others produced in Jewish communities in the disputed territories – must be marked as “Made in Israeli settlements” for distribution in Europe.

The winery is not actually situated in a settlement of the same name, which is adjacent to Ramallah.

Following the EU decision, Pompeo issued an unprecedented statement calling the establishment of “Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank… not, per se, inconsistent with international law,” thus upending longstanding US policy.

To express its gratitude, the winery named a limited edition of wine after the secretary.

“I am willing to promise that anyone who does as many good things for the Jewish people as Pompeo did – we will love and respect and appreciate them and name a wine after him,” Berg joked.