Israel is engaged in normalization talks with Comoros, a Muslim-majority island country off the eastern coast of Africa, Yisrael Hayom reported on Tuesday, citing a senior diplomatic source.

The source said that the US encouraged the two countries to discuss normalization in the hope of advancing the Abraham Accords. The talks are continuing bilaterally but according to “Jerusalem sources,” it is not yet clear whether the talks will succeed.

Comoros, which is a member of the Arab League, announced the establishment of diplomatic ties with Israel in 1994 but the plan did not materialize. In 2013, the country seemed to have a huge shift in policy when it was influenced by Turkey to push for legal action against Israel in the International Court of Justice in The Hague in the wake of the deaths of Turkish citizens in the Marmara flotilla incident.

The Foreign Ministry stated that “Israel does not comment on the issue of other countries that may join the accords.”

Regional Cooperation Minister Issawi Frej (Meretz) said in an interview published on Monday that the countries of Oman, Malaysia, Qatar and Tunisia may jump on the Abraham Accords bandwagon.

“We have direct and indirect relations with every Arab country in the Middle East, even the hostile ones,” Frej told the Emirati website Erem News during his recent visit to the United Arab Emirates.

Oman has long been identified as a possible candidate for normalizing ties with Israel but the other three countries mentioned by Frej have a long history of anti-Israel statements.

Last week, Qatari Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani ruled out normalizing ties with Israel as long as there is “no prospect of solving the Palestinian issue.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)