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Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdul Latef Al Zayani said on Sunday that Manama was “truly looking forward” to working with Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu and his prospective government. Both Zayani and Netanyahu are signatories to the Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Bahrain and Israel in September 2020. Zayani noted that Manama was seeking “to continue working on the successful achievements” with Israel, and emphasized his conviction that Netanyahu believes in peace, according to Israeli media. President Isaac Herzog on Sunday became the first Israeli head of state to make an official visit to Bahrain, beginning a two-day trip that...

Germany would be prepared to negotiate a free-trade agreement between the European Union and Russia as a way out of the deadlocked Ukraine conflict, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday. Merkel told the World Economic Forum in Davos that Germany was “ready” to open talks about “possibilities for cooperating in a collective trade area”, the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported. But she said that a precondition for the plan, suggested by Russian President Vladimir Putin several years ago but ignored by European leaders, would be a comprehensive peace agreement in Ukraine. …

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is claiming that if a peace agreement is reached with Israel, it would bring an end to his people’s demands of the Jewish state. Abbas made the comments during a meeting in Ramallah with members of the leftist Meretz party, and they were reported by Channel 2 News. “I know your concerns, but guarantee that at the conclusion of successful negotiations, we undertake to end all the demands. We will not ask to return to Yafo, Akko and Tzfat,” he said. Members of Meretz said that Abbas told them a “fair agreement” will end...

US representatives have met with representatives of the Taliban in Qatar. The two sides are reportedly trying to work out a confidence building measure by staging a prisoner exchange. The Americans will release some Taliban bigwigs being held in Guatanamo, while the Taliban will release an abducted aid worker, a captured American soldier and a member of the Afghan government peace delegation. As the administration has already announced that it will be withdrawing from Afghanistan by 2014, it would be useful for it to secure a peace agreement with the Taliban that would avoid a repetition of the fall of...