More normalization deals with "Israel" on the way: Reports

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Israeli media
7 Mar 2023 14:49
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Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said as quoted by Israeli media that they are attempting to reach normalization deals with Mauritania, Somalia, Niger, and Indonesia.

President Donald Trump speaks before the signing of normalization ties in Washington, September 15, 2020. (Reuters)

While progress in building relations between "Israel" and Saudi Arabia has slowed due to the US-Saudi debacle, the occupation is now attempting to reach US-mediated normalization deals with four countries in the coming months, as per Israeli media reports.

Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have said, as quoted by "Israel Hayom", that they are aiming to sign normalization ties with Mauritania, Somalia, Niger, and Indonesia.

Behind closed doors, of course, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is orchestrating the negotiations, as are senior US State Department officials, most notably Anthony Blinken, Jake Sullivan, and Amos Hochstein.

Further advanced talks are underway with Mauritania, as Foreign Minister Cohen revealed last week during a meeting with the German Foreign Minister. He also formally requested that the German top official uses her contacts to assist "Israel" to break through against Mauritania and Niger, media reports added.

The big picture

Mauritania has historically maintained ties with "Israel", which were formalized in 1999 and dissolved almost a decade later in 2010, following three weeks of brutal Israeli aggression on Gaza that left more than 1,430 martyrs and wounded another 5,300. While it is almost a question of maturing relations with Mauritania, "Israel" is reportedly working with the governments of Somalia and Niger to create medium-level relations in the first stage.

Meanwhile, a relationship between the Israeli occupation and Somalia has never existed, but it has been claimed multiple times in the last year that the current president, Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud, is interested in developing ties with the occupation.

As for Niger, there have been no official contacts until now, but even those that existed for a brief time unofficially suffered shocks during the Second Intifada - and no efforts have been taken by "Israel" to re-establish relations since then, Israeli media acknowledged.

Israeli media argued that "Israel" has two objectives in developing ties with Niger: One is to prevent the global supplier of Uranium from selling it to countries considered 'unfriendly' by "Israel"; the other is to prevent Niger from voting against the occupation in international forums.

Why Indonesia?

Cohen is attempting to initiate relations with Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country. Although Indonesia does not have formal ties with "Israel", they have created unofficial relations in the domains of trade, technology, and tourism in recent years.

Since several Arab countries signed normalization agreements with the Israeli occupation in 2020, several experts have discussed the possibility of Indonesia normalizing relations with "Israel,", especially top US officials, The Diplomat has lately reported.

"Israel" is seeking diplomatic recognition around the world, especially in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as Southeast Asia, providing Israeli technical assistance to the armed forces in Burma.

The possibility of Jakarta normalizing relations with "Tel Aviv" was first brought up by former President Abdurrahman Wahid, but the Indonesian public opposes the occupation, and normalization of relations would be strongly opposed by the public and unaccepted politically.

Meanwhile, any official deal with the four countries, will, however, have to wait until the conclusion of the holy month of Ramadan which falls on April 20. The Muslim world will closely monitor the Israeli crackdown on Palestinians, which is expected to escalate during the holy month of Ramadan.

Media reports suggested that this is why "Israel" agreed to hold the Al Aqaba meeting in Jordan, in order to try to regulate the mood ahead of the tense days ahead in Al Quds. Things may escalate to a great degree, which may constitute a setback for any relations built between the occupation and the four countries thus far. Both "Israel" and the US will try to act so that the tense days will not set back the efforts achieved so far, the reports stressed.

Concurrently, "Israel" is infested by political division amid rising warnings by top Israeli officials that the situation will explode leading to an internal war.