Date: Oct 29, 2018 Source: The Daily Star After Netanyahu trip, Israeli minister to head to Oman OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: The office of Israel’s transportation minister said Yisrael Katz will travel to Oman next week, days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the Gulf state. Arye Shalicar, an adviser to Katz, said Sunday that the minister will participate in an international transportation conference. He said Katz, who’s also Israel’s minister of intelligence, will share his proposal for building a rail link between Israel and Gulf countries. Israel and Oman Friday confirmed Netanyahu’s trip to Oman, the first such visit by an Israeli leader in 22 years. Israel and Oman do not have formal diplomatic relations. Oman described Israel as an accepted Middle East state Saturday, adding that the sultanate was offering ideas to help Israel and the Palestinians to come together, but is not acting as mediator. “Israel is a state present in the region, and we all understand this,” Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, the sultanate’s minister responsible for foreign affairs, told a security summit in Bahrain. “The world is also aware of this fact. Maybe it is time for Israel to be treated the same [as others states] and also bear the same obligations.” Netanyahu’s visit came days after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas paid a three-day visit to the Gulf country. Both leaders met with Oman’s Sultan Qaboos. “We are not saying that the road is now easy and paved with flowers, but our priority is to put an end to the conflict and move to a new world,” bin Alawi told the summit. Oman is relying on the United States and efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump in working toward the “deal of the century” (Middle East peace), he added. Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa voiced support for Oman over the sultanate’s role in trying to secure Israeli-Palestinian peace, while Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said the kingdom believes the key to normalizing relations with Israel was the peace process. The three-day security summit was also attended by Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, and his counterparts in Italy and Germany participated, but Jordan’s King Abdullah II canceled his appearance after a flood that hit the Dead Sea region killed 21 people. Trump’s Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt welcomed the “warming ties & growing cooperation between our regional friends” in a tweet late Friday. “This is a helpful step for our peace efforts & essential to create an atmosphere of stability, security & prosperity between Israelis, Palestinians & their neighbors. Looking forward to seeing more meetings like this!” Greenblatt said. Israel and some Gulf states share an interest in curbing Iran’s influence in the region. Oman has long been to the Middle East what neutral Switzerland is to global diplomacy. The country helped to mediate secret U.S.-Iran talks in 2013 that led to the historic nuclear deal signed in Geneva two years later. Netanyahu told Israel’s Parliament earlier in October that due to fears of a nuclear threat from Iran, “Israel and other Arab countries are closer than they ever were before.” The Israeli premier frequently boasts of warming behind-the-scenes ties with Arab countries. In another sign of those ties, Israeli Communications Minister Ayoob Kara is to travel to Dubai Monday to represent Israel at an international internet security conference, his office said. Some Palestinian officials Saturday expressed concern about a potential “normalization” of relations between Israel and Arab states. “The value system and the Arab political and social pact don’t exist anymore,” said Mohammad Shtayyeh an adviser to Abbas in a statement. “It is the start of a public normalization and the end of the Arab peace initiative,” he added, referring to a 2002 Arab League proposal. The 2002 initiative affirmed Arab states would restore diplomatic ties with Israel in exchange for a peace settlement creating a Palestinian state that returned all land occupied or annexed in and since the 1967 war. Deputy Speaker of the Palestinian Parliament Hassan Khreisheh meanwhile lamented an “unprecedented haste by Arab countries to normalize ties with Israel.” On his visit Friday, Netanyahu was accompanied by senior officials, including the head of the Mossad intelligence agency and his national security adviser. Though uncommon, Israeli leaders have previously visited the Gulf state. In 1996, the late Shimon Peres went to Oman and Qatar when he was prime minister and opened Israel trade representative offices in both Gulf countries. His predecessor, the late Yitzhak Rabin, made the first trip to Oman in 1994.