Israeli PM Netanyahu visits Oman without announcement

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a rare visit to Oman, an Arab state with which Israel has no diplomatic ties, and met with its leader, Sultan Qaboos, his office said on Friday.

The two discussed “ways to advance the Mideast peace process and other issues of shared interest”, Israel said in a statement released after the premier returned from the first such visit since 1996.

Netanyahu was accompanied by his wife, Sara, and his delegation included Mossad intelligence chief Yossi Cohen and National Security Advisor Meir Ben-Shabbat.

The visit came at the invitation of Sultan Qaboos and followed “lengthy contacts between the two countries”, the statement said.

It formed part of “the policy outlined by Prime Minister Netanyahu on deepening relations with the states of the region”, it said.

In 1994, then-Israeli premier Yitzhak Rabin visited Oman, and acting prime minister Shimon Peres also made a visit in 1996, and the two countries agreed to open trade representative offices.