"The first visit of a senior Israeli official to Oman occurred in 1994, when Israeli’s Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin visited the Gulf state. Two years later, the town countries signed an agreement on the reciprocal opening of trade representative offices.
The Israeli-Omani relation witnessed a setback following the Second Palestinian Intifada in October 2000. However, the relations began to recover in 2008 when Oman’s Foreign Affairs Minister Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah met with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni during their visit to Qatar.
Despite that both countries stated that Netanyahu’s visit was aimed at discussing the peace initiative in the Middle East, some experts say that the Sultanate is playing a role in easing the tension between Iran, its close partner, and Israel. According to this version, Oman is playing a role of a mediator in the indirect negotiations between Iran and Israel." SF and the Omani News Service
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Oman is a nice place. Clean, neat as a pin, and filled with modern amenities and infrastructure. It is the only ME country that looks like an army post complete with white rocks to mark the boundaries of driveways and other such evidences of military "order." This is not surprising since Sultan Qaboos was an officer in the British Army Lowland Scots Regiment "The Cameronians" (long disestablished) while he was exiled from Oman by his father, the previous sultan.
I don't think that Natanyahu wants a negotiated lessening of hostility with Iran. He relishes the hostility. Where would he find another bogeyman as useful as Iran if the Iranians decided to bow down to him.
No. My WAG on his receptivity to Qaboos' invitation is that he is fearful of losing Saudi Arabia as an effective semi-ally in the Arab World and is casting about for new "friends." pl
