In line with the

Arab League The Arab League (, ' ), officially the League of Arab States (, '), is a regional organization in the Arab world. The Arab League was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945, initially with seven members: Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt, Kingdom of Iraq, ...

position in relation to

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

does not officially recognize the state of Israel and took part in the boycott of Israel during much of the 20th century. Oman established hidden relations with Israel in the 1970s.https://www.concordia.ca/content/dam/artsci/azrieli/docs/OccasionalPapers/ADiplomaticHistoryofOmani-IsraeliRelations.pdf, Dr Jonathan Ghariani, A Diplomatic History of Israel’s Relations with Oman: From Clandestine Ties to the Abraham Accords; The Azrieli Institute of Israel Studies – Concordia University It sought Israeli military assistance in fighting the Dhofar Marxist rebellion. In 1994, the countries established unofficial trade relations, which were discontinued in 2000. In 2018, Israeli Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...

led a delegation to Oman and met with Sultan Qaboos and other senior Omani officials. In February 2019, Omani foreign minister, Yusuf bin Alawi, said that Oman will not normalize its relations with Israel until a sovereign Palestinian state has been established. Moreover, Oman has criminalized ties with Israel In 2020, after Sultan Qaboos died, the Israeli PM commended Qaboos and gave his condolences. In 2023, Oman announced it will allow Israeli aircraft to fly over its airspace, shortening flight times to

Far East The Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including North Asia, North, East Asia, East and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term. In mod ...

destinations, although Israel's flag carrier

El Al EL AL Israel Airlines Ltd. (), trading as EL AL (, "Upwards", "To the Skies", or "Skywards", stylized as ELAL; ) is the flag carrier of Israel. Since its inaugural flight from Geneva to Tel Aviv in September 1948, the airline has grown to serve ...

stopped flights from flying over Omani airspace after the

Gaza war The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...

History

Background

Unlike most other nations in the region, Oman has not participated in any of the armed conflicts fought between Arab states and Israel.

Hidden relations

Oman established hidden relations with Israel in the 1970s. Oman established those ties in order to receive military assistance from Israel in fighting the Dhofar Marxist rebellion, in particular the Dhofar Liberation Front. Due to the sensitivity of such ties at the time, they were hidden from the United Kingdom. Oman was one of two Arab nations (the other being

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

) not to break off diplomatic relations with Egypt after the Camp David accords in 1979.

Establishment of relations (1994–2000)

In 1994, then-

Prime Minister of Israel The prime minister of Israel (, Hebrew abbreviations, Hebrew abbreviation: ; , ''Ra'īs al-Ḥukūma'') is the head of government and chief executive of the Israel, State of Israel. Israel is a parliamentary republic with a President of Isra ...

Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Rabin (; , ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the prime minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–1977, and from 1992 until Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, his ass ...

visited Oman, where he was greeted by Sultan of Oman

Qaboos bin Said al Said Qaboos bin Said Al Said (, ; 18 November 1940 – 10 January 2020) was Sultan of Oman from 23 July 1970 until his death in 2020. A fifteenth-generation descendant of the founder of the Al Bu Said dynasty, he was the longest-serving leader in ...

Muscat Muscat (, ) is the capital and most populous city in Oman. It is the seat of the Governorate of Muscat. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the population of the Muscat Governorate in 2022 was 1.72 million. ...

. Among other things, the two sides discussed issues such as sharing water and how to improve water supplies. In 1995, a few days after Rabin was

assassinated Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

, then-acting prime minister

Shimon Peres Shimon Peres ( ; ; born Szymon Perski, ; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician and statesman who served as the prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the president of Israel from 2007 t ...

hosted Omani foreign minister

Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah (, born 1945) is an Omani politician. He was the Sultanate of Oman's Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs. It is important to clarify that "Ministers in Responsibility" were previously appointed as the Sultan was ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. In January 1996, Israel and Oman signed an agreement on the reciprocal opening of trade

representative office A representative office is an office established by a company or a legal entity to conduct marketing and other non-transactional operations, generally in a foreign country where a branch office or subsidiary is not warranted. Representative offices ...

s. During the Madrid talks during the 1990s, Oman pushed for Arab-Israeli peace. Some diplomats and researchers have said that it is possible Oman was one of the first countries to push for such a peace. Oman was interested at the time in agricultural assistance, with Israel assisting Omani agriculture and the combat of water inefficiency through the provision of Israeli

drip irrigation Drip irrigation or trickle irrigation is a type of micro-irrigation system that has the potential to save water and nutrients by allowing water to drip slowly to the roots of plants, either from above the soil surface or buried below the surfac ...

technology. Oman had pushed at the time for a regional water project, specifically on

desalination Desalination is a process that removes mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination is the removal of salts and minerals from a substance. One example is Soil salinity control, soil desalination. This is important for agric ...

and was interested in Israeli technology.

Frozen relations (2000–18)

Official relations were frozen with the outbreak of the

Second Intifada The Second Intifada (; ), also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, was a major uprising by Palestinians against Israel and its Israeli-occupied territories, occupation from 2000. Starting as a civilian uprising in Jerusalem and October 2000 prot ...

in October 2000. Still, in 2008, Oman's Foreign Affairs Minister Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah met with Israeli Foreign Minister

Tzipi Livni Tziporah Malka "Tzipi" Livni (, ; born 8 July 1958) is an Israeli politician, diplomat and lawyer. A former member of the Knesset and leader in the center-left political camp, Livni is a former Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel), foreign mini ...

during their visit to

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

Visit by Israeli prime minister (2018)

In October 2018, Israeli prime minister

met Sultan

; the visit was revealed following Netanyahu's return to Israel. Right after the visit, Omani Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah described Israel as an "accepted Middle East state." He said, "The world is also aware of this fact. Maybe it is time for Israel to be treated the same s other statesand also bear the same obligations." In April 2019, bin Abdullah said that "Arabs must take initiatives to make Israel overcome 'fears for its future' in the region."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Israel-Oman relations

Bilateral relations of Oman