The U.S. sees Qatar as another Gulf nation potentially prepared to normalize ties with Israel as the Trump administration seeks to keep momentum behind its Middle East peace efforts, a senior State Department official said.
“Qatar has a track record of working with Israel that we think will eventually get them to a broader agreement with the Israelis,” Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Tim Lenderking said in a call with reporters on Thursday. “We think there’s a lot to build on, every country will move at its own pace on normalization, according to its own criteria, but we’re eager for that to happen sooner rather than later.”
The U.S. wants all Gulf states to eventually normalize ties with Israel, Lenderking said.
Qatari Assistant Foreign Minister Lolwah Alkhater said this week her country won’t join its Gulf Arab neighbors Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates in establishing diplomatic relations with Israel until its conflict with the Palestinians is resolved.
Speaking of the three-year-old Gulf rift that has pitted Qatar against a Saudi-led bloc of Arab nations, Lenderking said the U.S. is “very keen to see that the airspace is opened for aircraft not to have to fly over Iran. Though it may not be a matter of weeks, we’re still very dedicated to resolving the rift, we’re in contact with all of the parties.”
The U.S. won’t be able to impose a solution to the boycott of Qatar by regional states and all countries involved will need to compromise. “If it’s possible for countries to normalize with Israel, it ought to be possible for Arab countries to normalize amongst each other,” he said.
Source : Agencies
