Oman to open an embassy in Palestine’s West Bank

Fatma Lotfi
3 Min Read

Oman will open its embassy in the Israeli-occupied West Bank according to the country’s foreign ministry’s statement on Wednesday on Twitter.

“In continuation to Oman authority’s support to the brotherly Palestinian people, it has decreed to open a new diplomatic mission in Palestine at the level of the embassy,” the ministry said.

A delegation from the ministry of foreign affairs will head directly to Ramallah to initiate the required procedures, the ministry added.

Oman’s decision came during the second and last day of the United States-hosted conference in Bahrain which the US said, aims to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and encourage investing in the Gaza strip and the West Bank.

The US has revealed the economic part of its Mideast peace plan or what widely become known as “deal of the century.”

Oman has not publicly revealed or confirmed if it is attending the conference or not. Several Arab and foreign investors are invited to attend the conference. 

Earlier in February 2018, Oman’s State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, visited Al-Aqsa Mosque in a rare public visit of an Arab official to the Occupied Territories.

The Manama conference has been held on Tuesday, Wednesday 25-26 June and led by the US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and Senior Adviser, Jared Kushner.

The Palestinian Authority is boycotting the conference and previously declared that it will not accept any settlement which does not include an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar are participating in the US economic workshop.

For Egypt, an official economic delegation from the ministry of finance will attend the conference “to hear out the propositions,” a high-ranking Egyptian official told Daily News Egypt on condition of anonymity.

Managing Director and Chairperson of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, World Bank Group President, David Malpass, and FIFA President, Gianni Infantino also attended the event.

Kushner announced that the ‘deal of the century’ will include $50bn in investments in the Palestinian Territories, Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon in its first phase. Out of the total amount, $13.38bn would be grants, $25.689bn would be subsidised loans, and $11.6bn would be private investments.

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A journalist in DNE's politics section with more than six years of experience in print and digital journalism, focusing on local political issues, terrorism and human rights. She also writes features on women issues and culture.