The recent peace deal between Israel and Bahrain followed shortly after the announcement of the peace deal between the United Arab Emirates and Israel. In fact, Special Representative for International Negotiations Avi Berkowitz said in a recent interview with Army Radio that he received a call from Bahrain immediately after the announcement of the Israel/United Arab Emirates deal, expressing interest in a peace deal with Israel as well.
Furthermore, Walla News reported last week that Israel has maintained a secret diplomatic office in Bahrain for 11 years so it seems apparent that the peace deal was a culmination of undercover diplomatic ties of many years. But there was another factor leading to the Bahrain/Israel peace deal that was revealed last week by an Israeli politician: a Bahraini princess who secretly underwent life-saving surgery in Israel in 2010.
Former Likud minister and MK Ayoub Kara, the first Druze politician to receive a ministerial portfolio, said that Israel’s treatment of Princess Fatima Bint Khalifa was a factor leading to a warming of relations between the two countries.
“In 2010, I realized that we had an opportunity to [establish] good relations with the Gulf states,” Kara said at a panel discussion during the Israeli-Palestinian Economic Forum last week.
Kara said he had assisted in arranging the princess’ treatment at Rambam Hospital in Haifa, knowing it was a good opportunity for Israel to strengthen ties with Bahrain.
The princess flew from Bahrain to Cyprus to Israel and was secretly transferred to Ramban. In fact, according to Kara, only he and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu were aware of the princess’ arrival.
The surgery was successful and the princess and her husband remained in Israel for a month afterward for rehabilitation. Before returning home, they asked what favor they can return to Israel. Kara said that he used the opportunity to request that Bahrain consider a new policy regarding Israel due to the stall in negotiations with the Palestinians and also asked for them to be assistance to the tiny Jewish community in Bahrain.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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One Response
I was in the mood of a good buba mayseh and this story did the job! A million stories in our history sound the same, “a Jew does a favor for a king / pooritz etc and then later on they ask what favor can I return”.