Bahraini FM calls for ME forum including Israel

Jerusalem mum on Bahraini idea for regional problem-solving forum to include Israel, Iran.

By HERB KEINON, AP
Bahraini FM Khalid bin Ahmmed 224 88 ap (photo credit: AP)
Bahraini FM Khalid bin Ahmmed 224 88 ap
(photo credit: AP)
Israel had no formal reaction Wednesday night to the Bahrain foreign minister's suggestion that all Middle East nations - including Israel and Iran - form a regional organization. A senior official in Jerusalem said it was an "interesting idea," but one that would almost certainly not get off the ground. Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa said in an interview with the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat that a regional organization should be formed "even if we don't recognize each other," and that the purpose would be to try to resolve disputes. In a speech to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, Sheikh Khaled called for such a Middle East organization to include countries "without exception." Asked by Al-Hayat if it would include Israel, he replied, "With Israel, Turkey, Iran and Arab countries. Let them all sit together in one group... This is the only path to solve our problems. "Why don't we all sit together even if we have differences and even if we don't recognize each other? Why not become one organization to overcome this difficult phase?" the paper quoted him as saying. The senior official in Jerusalem said it was unlikely that many Arab countries would accept a permanent regional forum with Israel, noting that when then-foreign minister Shimon Peres talked during the Oslo heydays in the early 1990s of Israel joining the Arab League, the suggestion was roundly rejected. The source said that no less interesting than the suggestion to include Israel in the forum was the suggestion to invite the Islamic Republic, since there was a great deal of fear among Persian Gulf states that Teheran is pursuing nuclear weapons because it wants hegemony in the region. While reiterating that the regional forum was "a very interesting idea," the source in Jerusalem said it was much too early for Israel to jump on the "wagon," because "there was no wagon, no wheels and no horses, just one newspaper interview." The source also said the idea would be more significant were it to be taken up by a country with more regional weight than Bahrain. Bahrain, with some 720,000 people, is a small, pro-Western island nation with Sunni rulers and a Shi'ite majority. It is a close US ally and hosts the US Navy's 5th Fleet. Earlier this year, it appointed Hoda Nono, the Arab world's first Jewish ambassador, as its envoy to Washington. There are an estimated 50 Jews in the country.