ISRAEL Muscat: Parliament approves a law penalizing relations with Israel

The new law approved at the end of the year extends the boycott and penalizes public and private relations with persons or entities of the State of Israel. Analysts speak of a heavy blow to Israel’s hope of expanding the “Abraham Accords.” For the Sultanate, any possible relationship is linked to the Palestinian cause and the two-state solution.

Muscat () – The Omani Parliament approved a law extending the boycott to Israel and declaring that economic, commercial or diplomatic relations with the State of Israel are considered a crime. At the end of the year, the 86-member Consultative Assembly approved the law that strengthens the blockade in line with the indications of the Arab League, prohibiting its citizens from communicating or meeting – for any purpose – with public or private Israeli figures. Assembly vice-president Yaaqoub al-Harethi, according to the official Waf news agency, said that the amendment proposed by several legislators aims to “expand the criminalization and boycott of the Zionist entity.” Analysts and experts define the vote as a blow to Israel’s hopes of expanding its field of action within the Arab world and the Middle East, with the aim of cornering and encircling the Iranian “enemy”.

For Muscat, like other countries in the region, including the Saudis, before talking about relations it is necessary for there to be “progress” on the Palestinian issue and to resume dialogue with real perspectives on the two-state solution, which the Israeli government the more right-wing of the story, however, seems to file. The Sultanate of Oman is considered the most important mediator in the region between the two great Muslim powers: Sunni Saudi Arabia and the Shiite Islamic Republic of Iran.

Last July, Riyadh opened its airspace to Israeli planes, but for many experts it is a facade and does not bring real benefits, at least until Oman makes a similar decision and enables overflights to the Far East. A prospect that, for the moment, seems remote, because the foreign affairs minister of the Sultanate Badr Bin Hamad Al-Busaid has also supported the parliamentary vote. The decision, he stressed, represents “the embodiment of the aspirations of the people of Oman and other nations in the region to achieve a just and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian cause.” In this regard, he called for compliance with “international standards” and the “Arab peace initiative.”

In the recent past, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain – with Sudan and Morocco – have established diplomatic relations with Israel under the “Abraham Accords” sponsored in 2020 by former US President Donald Trump. Other nations such as Iraq have confirmed – at least at the official level – a hard position against the State of Israel, approving a law that provides for the death penalty for those who establish relationships or businesses. After all, Baghdad has never recognized Israel as an autonomous and sovereign entity since its birth in 1948, and Baghdad’s parliamentarians are firmly convinced that the country will “never join” the accords, despite the invitations and pressures that come from it. receive from many directions (read Washington).