Kuwait ‘no’ to Tel Aviv

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 7: The Israeli initiative to sign non-aggression agreements with the Arab Gulf states, that was revealed by Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz Sunday, has received a negative response from the Gulf states, especially Kuwait which has refused to accept it even through a mediator, reports Al-Jarida daily quoting highly reliable sources.

The Israeli minister confirmed the validity of a report in this regard published by the Hebrew Channel 12, based on a tweet on Twitter that says the recent initiative was submitted with the support of the United States, a political initiative to sign nonaggression agreements with the Gulf States.

Katz described the initiative as “a historic step that will put an end to the conflict and allow the launching of civil cooperation between the parties, unless peace agreements are signed between them,” adding that he has briefed some Arab foreign ministers and the US administration’s special envoy to the Middle East peace negotiations, Jason Greenblatt, on this initiative during his recent visit to New York to participate in the work of the United Nations General Assembly.

While in New York, Katz announced that he had met with the foreign minister of an anonymous Arab country. The newspaper learned from its sources that the Israeli minister had already met the foreign ministers of two Gulf States, which Israel maintains some kind of contacts with. They should take this initiative individually, but he heard from both of them a strong reservation about it, considering it lacks realism in the current circumstances.

The sources said that the Israeli minister sent his initiative to the foreign minister of a third Gulf state, through a mediator, but received a negative answer, not only in the name of the state of this minister, but on behalf of two other Gulf states, stressing that Kuwait refused to receive this even without looking at its contents.