The foreign ministers of Israel and Bahrain said on Wednesday that the two countries have agreed to exchange embassies as they look to boost the cooperation that Washington has promoted.
In the first official visit paid by an official from his country to Israel, Bahrain's Foreign Minister Abdul Latif Al-Zayani said that his Israeli counterpart, Gabi Ashkenazi, will visit Manama in December.
"I had the pleasure to convey to Minister Ashkenazi the official request of the Kingdom of Bahrain to open an embassy in Israel and inform him of the approval of Israel's request to open an embassy in Manama.
"A process that I hope will proceed relatively quickly now," Al-Zayani said.
The Israeli minister said that he hoped the opening ceremonies of the two embassies would take place at the end of 2020.
Officials from Israel and Bahrain signed several memoranda of understanding in Manama in October covering trade, aviation services, telecommunications, finance, banking, and agriculture.
Ashkenazi said that starting from the end of 2020, Bahraini citizens will be able to apply online for visas to enter Israel and that direct flights will soon begin.
The Bahraini delegation traveled on a Gulf Air plane on Flight 972, referring to the telephone code for Israel, on the company's first commercial flight to Tel Aviv.
Avi Berkowitz, US President Donald Trump's envoy to the Middle East, who was leading the American delegation on board the plane that flew over Saudi Arabia, was a concession from the Gulf power, which has so far resisted the US calls to normalize relations with Israel.
Since September, the Trump administration has brokered agreements with Bahrain, the UAE, and Sudan in order to normalize their relations with Israel.
Israeli Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen told Israeli Army Radio that the extent to which the new US administration will adhere to a hardline policy toward Iran will determine whether other Arab countries choose to normalize relations with Israel.
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