Palestinian president receives Omani FM in Ramallah

By Qais Abu Samra

RAMALLAH, Palestine

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday received Omani Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi in Ramallah, according to Palestine’s official WAFA news agency.

Bin Alawi provided Abbas with a letter from Omani Sultan Qaboos bin Said briefing the Palestinian leader about last week’s visit to Muscat by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, WAFA reported.

On Friday, Netanyahu paid a surprise visit to Oman, during which he held talks with Sultan Qaboos.

According to a joint statement issued after the meeting, the two men discussed “means of advancing the Mideast peace process and several issues of mutual concern”.

Four days before Netanyahu's surprise visit, Abbas, too, had visited Muscat, where he also held talks with Sultan Qaboos.

Those talks had tackled Palestine-Oman relations, the latest developments in the Palestinian territories, and the recent U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, WAFA reported at the time.

In recent comments to Qatar’s Al Jazeera television news channel, bin Alawi said Netanyahu’s visit last Friday had come at the Israeli PM’s request with a view to “discussing the [Israel-Palestine] peace process”.

Although Israel and Oman do not have diplomatic relations, the two countries agreed in 1996 to open commercial representation offices in each other’s capitals.

Muscat, however, suspended relations again following the outbreak of the second Palestinian Intifada in 2000.