Bahrain's Call

Bahrain has called for the inclusion of Israel in a regional diplomatic forum:

"Bahrain's foreign ministry has rejected allegations that its call for the formation of a regional forum that includes Israel implied abandoning Arabs' legitimate rights or giving up the Palestinian cause.

"Defending the proposal put forward last week by Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa before the UN general assembly, the ministry said that several Arab countries have based their negotiations with the Israelis on the Arab peace initiative."

The small Gulf states do have quiet contacts with Israel, and would like the Arab-Israeli conflict to go away sooner rather than later. I've never seen one get this far ahead of the front-line states, however.