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Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced Friday that the Israeli prime minister was returning from a visit to Oman, a Gulf country, where he had joined the country's leader at the first meeting of its kind since over 20 years old.
The office said Friday in a statement that Netanyahu had been invited by the Sultan of Oman Qaboos bin Said after lengthy communications.
Israel and Oman do not have diplomatic relations. This meeting was the first between leaders of the two countries since 1996 and former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin had made a similar surprise visit to Oman two years earlier.
The sultanate has long played a discreet role in promoting negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians and has openly called for the need for a Palestinian state while recognizing the need for an Israeli state.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also made a three-day visit to Oman earlier this week.
Although historic, the meeting did not immediately mark a breakthrough in peace efforts, as Oman does not have the influence of nations like Saudi Arabia to advocate for defense or to bring closer both sides of the negotiating table.
Netanyahu and his wife were joined by the head of the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, the director of his Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other defense officials.
Netanyahu has reiterated in recent years that Israel has developed good relations with several Arab states, despite the lack of formal links.
The two leaders issued a joint statement in which they said they "had discussed ways to advance the Middle East peace process and addressed a number of issues of common interest with a view to the establishment of peace and stability in the Middle East ".
Oman, which lies at the southeastern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, with Saudi Arabia to the north and Iran to the east, is reputed to be a silent broker in the region, choosing to remain on the sidelines of the rivalry between the two regional powers. Although he is a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council led by six Saudis and led by Saudi Arabia, he did not join the kingdom in his boycott of Qatar or in the war in Yemen.
His foreign minister made a rare visit to an Arab official in the West Bank earlier this year.
