Bahrain Mirror: Morocco and Bahrain may soon open embassies in Tel Aviv, an Israeli official told Anadolu Agency.

"Soon, Bahrain will open an embassy in Tel Aviv and Morocco will raise the level of representation from a liaison office to an embassy," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Kaabia in an exclusive interview.

"We hope that more agreements will be reached soon with other Arab countries," said the spokesman, without adding further details.

"According to the agreement signed between Israel and Morocco, full diplomatic relations will be established between the two countries," he said.

Kaabia underlined that "peace between Israel, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Sudan" was a "different model" from that with Morocco in that Tel Aviv had never had diplomatic relations with these countries before.

He went on to say that as for Morocco, there were relations in the past between Israel and Morocco until 2000. Last year, they were renewed with an agreement to establish full diplomatic relations.

The official claimed that an important part of his country's agreements with Bahrain and the UAE were based on relations between the peoples of these countries and Israel.

"We're talking about a new model, which differs even from peace with Jordan and Egypt, as in a large part it focuses on relations between peoples, not just governments," he said.

He went on to say: "For example, during four-five months of relations between Israel and the UAE, trade and economic agreements amounting to more than $520 million were concluded, which is a continuous and increasing process."

"Another example is represented by tourist visits, where more than 230,000 Israelis visited the UAE during the months after the agreement was signed."

He also underscored the existence of health, culture, and social ties which are carried out directly between the countries' institutions.

"Recently, the undersecretary of the Bahraini Foreign Ministry visited Israel, and within a week, he met with the Israeli president, prime minister, and minister of foreign affairs, and he met with many businessmen and civil institutions," he emphasized.

Last year, Israel signed agreements to normalize relations with Bahrain and the UAE.

Subsequently, Sudan announced its decision to normalize relations with Israel.

Morocco is the fourth Arab country to agree to normalization with Israel since 2020.

Egypt and Jordan have two peace agreements with Israel since 1979 and 1994, respectively.

Arabic Version