Israeli hospital treatment of Bahraini princess paved the way for normalizing relations

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A former Israeli communications minister has stated that the manner in which Israel treated Bahraini princess Fatima bint Khalifa in 2010 helped open the door for normalizing relations with Bahrain this year, the Jerusalem Post reports. Speaking at the second annual Israeli- Palestinian Economic Forum Tuesday, Israeli-Druze Ayoub Kara said he had helped the princess receive treatment at Israel’s Rambam Hospital in Haifa, and that this had been an opportunity to foster good relations with the Gulf states.

“I believed in 2010 that we had an opportunity to [have] good relations with the Gulf states,” Kara said about the princess’ request for treatment in Israel. “This was the beginning of the process,” he said. The princess had been “very sick,” Kara added.

The preparations around the princess’s admission to Rambam hospital were “very discreet:” only key figures like Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu knew about it, Kara said. The princess and her husband were settled in an Israeli hotel for a month after she was discharged.

Upon returning home, the Bahraini couple asked how they could help Israel in return, Kara said. He answered that they might help to improve the treatment of the Jewish community in Bahrain. Kara also suggested that they support the expansion of Israel’s relations with the Gulf States because it was impossible to “find a solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with the Palestinian Authority. “We need a new policy,” Kara had told the Bahrainis.

The Israeli-Palestinian Economic Forum at which Kara made his remarks was part of an initiative to improve economic ties between the Jewish State and the Palestinians. The conference was hosted by the Judea and Samaria Chamber of Commerce and the US Israel Education Association. The forum’s lead sponsor was the Integrated Business Roundtable community, the Jerusalem Post reports.

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