Bahrain's Israel boycott to continue

- From the Jerusalem Post,

May. 11, 2006 7:04 | Updated May. 11, 2006 8:09
Bahrain's Israel boycott to continue
By MICHAEL FREUND

Just a month before its Free Trade Agreement with the US is slated to go into effect, Bahrain has yet to close its official Israel Boycott Office, despite a pledge to do so made to Washington last year, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

In addition, senior Bahraini officials have publicly indicated that regardless of their promise to the Bush Administration, the ban on Israeli products will continue.

The US and Bahrain signed a free trade agreement in September 2004. It was ratified by Congress in December 2005, but will only go into effect in the next few weeks, after the Bahraini government finalizes various changes to its trade legislation.

After the US conditioned the deal on Bahrain's removal of restrictions on trade with the Jewish state, Bahraini officials assured Washington that they would cancel the anti-Israel embargo and close down their Israel Boycott Office.

Nonetheless, in remarks before Bahrain's Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday, Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa denied that his country would end the boycott.

According to the Bahrain Tribune, Khalifa told the deputies present "that the relations would be normal with Israel when the Arab League orders the Arab countries to end the boycott, and until then the Kingdom was sticking to the boycott."

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