Oman calls on Israel to create independent Palestinian state

The country's foreign minister Badr al Busaidi who has been long acting as a mediator in the region spoke by phone to his Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid.

Badr d Al Busaidi, secretary general of Oman's foreign ministry, gestures as he speaks at the Rome Mediterranean summit MED 2018 in Rome, Italy on November 22, 2018.
Reuters

Badr d Al Busaidi, secretary general of Oman's foreign ministry, gestures as he speaks at the Rome Mediterranean summit MED 2018 in Rome, Italy on November 22, 2018.

Oman's foreign minister has told his Israeli counterpart he hopes Israel's new government will take concrete steps towards creating an independent Palestinian state with occupied East Jerusalem as its capital.

Oman's Badr al Busaidi spoke by phone to Israel's Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, according to ONA, the state news agency of Oman, which has a longstanding policy of neutrality in the turbulent region and often acts as a mediator.

In February, Busaidi said Oman was satisfied with its current relationship with Israel even after fellow Gulf States the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain normalised ties with Israel last year under US-brokered accords.

Lapid will travel to the UAE next week in the first official visit by an Israeli minister to the Gulf state since they established diplomatic relations. He will inaugurate the Israeli Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Consulate General of Israel in Dubai.

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New government approves settlement construction 

An Israeli defence ministry body advanced plans for 31 West Bank settlement construction projects on Wednesday, the first such move under the country’s new government.

The plans approved by the Civil Administration include a shopping centre, a special needs school and a number of infrastructure projects and zoning changes in existing West Bank settlements, Israeli media reported.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s new government was sworn in earlier this month, unseating longtime leader Benjamin Netanyahu after four deadlocked elections. His governing coalition is comprised of eight parties representing a wide spectrum of political positions, from Jewish ultranationalists to liberal factions and a small Palestinian party.

Most of the international community considers Israeli settlement construction illegal under international law and an obstacle to peace with the Palestinians. Since Israel captured the territory in the 1967 Mideast war, it has constructed dozens of settlements in the West Bank, where more than 400,000 Israelis live alongside nearly 3 million Palestinians.

The Palestinians seek the West Bank as the heartland of a future independent state.

Peace talks between the two parties have been stalled for years.

The US has urged Israel and the Palestinians to refrain from actions that could hinder peace efforts, including settlement activity. Israeli Foreign Minister Lapid will be flying to Rome on Sunday to meet with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Ayman Odeh, head of the Joint List of Arab parties in Israel’s parliament, said following the approval of settlement construction that “the left has surrendered to the right and has put aside the diplomatic issue, but the right continues to harm the chances of peace and deepen the occupation, oppression and dispossession of millions of Palestinians."

Bennett has said that all parties will have to put ideological differences aside for the new government to function. A minister from the dovish Meretz party said the new government has agreed “at least at this stage, not to deal with” the Palestinian issue.

READ MORE: Several Palestinians wounded after Jewish settlers attack Sheikh Jarrah

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