HEBRON, Palestine 

Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani is planning to visit Israel in the near future, Israeli media reported on Tuesday.

According to the Times of Israel, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson confirmed that al-Zayani will be visiting Israel soon, without providing further details. This will be the first-ever public visit by a Bahraini minister.

Earlier, the daily reported that the top Bahraini official will be visiting Israel on Nov. 19.

This came after a normalization deal signed between the two countries in September.

Besides Bahrain, Arab countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Egypt, and Jordan also maintain relations with Israel, which has occupied Palestinian territories since 1967.