The history of the conflict between Israel and Bahrain

International politics remains important, even in times of coronavirus. According to what the Infobae website reports, Donald Trump "announced the normalization of diplomatic relations between Israel and Bahrain." That is, reaching an agreement that normalizes the situation between both countries.

This happened because, as reported by La Vanguardia, Bahrain will recognize the state of Israel, so the small island in the Persian Gulf maintains the same line as the United Arab Emirates. Let's see, then, what this conflict involved and what are the characteristics behind it.

The conflict between Israel and Bahrain

The first thing to note is that the United States acted as a kind of "mediator" between the countries, openly supporting Israel. The current US president, Donald Trump, stressed that he restored "trust" with his regional partners, managing to eliminate the caliphate of the Islamic State, according to the Página 12 website.

Let us remember that, even recently, the El Mundo website mentioned that the current US president was nominated as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize, due to the diplomatic agreement reached between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, to which the nation of Bahrain later ended up joining. However, what is the background to all this controversy?

The first thing to think about is that, according to the BBC, Israel managed to sign a historic peace agreement with the United Arab Emirates. It is a diplomatic move in which it undertakes to suspend the annexations of the Palestinian territories. 

It was a really important step for humanity, since, to date, Israel did not have peace relations with any Gulf country. However, this is not all good news. Recently, we also saw that, according to the Notimérica website, the Palestinian Authority called the agreement reached between Israel and Bahrain a “treason to the Palestinian cause”, since it represents an offense against Jerusalem, legitimizing the Israeli occupation in a context where the state consolidates annexation for military reasons.

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Now, what is the history of this dispute? According to the specialized website of the Euromediterranean Circle, this is a "centennial conflict". At the end of the 19th century, there were the Palestinian people, who lived in the territory that is currently shared by Palestine and Israel; while the Jewish people began to arrive there because of the social persecutions they suffered in Europe.

It is in this sense that, as El Definido de Chile reports, the Jews considered Palestine as their land. The Israelite history longs to return to that place, having a religious and historical argument, due to the belief of a land promised by God. Therefore, from then on, different warlike conflicts and disputes arose between both sides.

This is why, in relation to what the specialized website of the Middle East Monitor reports, the United Arab Emirates welcomed the agreement between Israel and Bahrain, so they hope that it will be positive for peace, so all these partnerships could initiate new cooperative agreements that are fruitful for the region.

However, the Telam news agency highlights that this agreement "divided the Middle East", as harsh voices were heard from Turkey and Iran, two powers rival to Donald Trump. This is why he was accused of betraying Jerusalem and the Palestinian cause, given that the Arab countries of the region proposed to recognize Israel so that the occupation of three Palestinian territories cease: the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.

Therefore, it remains to be seen how this conflict of interest that was historic for humanity is resolved. It is clear that, with the passage of time, one of the two parties will end up losing, but the ideal would be for agreements to be reached so that the entire region can be at peace.