The 86-strong Majlis al-Shura, or Consultative Assembly, voted to amend the first clause of its law boycotting the Israeli regime to include all sporting, cultural or economic contacts for public and private figures.
The proposed change also specifically prohibits in-person or online interactions with Israeli settlers.
In this regard, the vice president of the entity, Yaaqoub al-Harethi, assured that this multi-legislator initiative “will expand the criminalization and boycott of the Zionist entity,” Omani news agency WAF reported.
The amendment will now go to the Legislative Committee or Majlis before a final vote, although domestic law already dictates that citizens are prohibited from contacting any person or entity based in Israel for any purpose, directly or through a third party.
Muscat is thus officially sticking to the position of the Arab League that any form of diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv requires the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
Earlier this year, Oman and the United States were reportedly in talks about a United States proposal aimed at getting the Sultanate’s approval for Israeli commercial flights to use its airspace.
Analysts saw this as an attempt by Washington to pressure other Arab countries to normalize relations with Israel, but Muscat rejected the proposal.
By signing the so-called Abraham Accords, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, along with Saudi Arabia, allowed Israeli planes to use their airspace, but Oman’s Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr al-Busaidi responded by assuring that his country would not be a third state in Persian Golf to normalize relations.
He also reiterated support for a fair and comprehensive deal and a lasting peace based on the two-state solution.
The law change shatters Tel Aviv’s hopes of integration into the region, two years after the White House negotiated normalization deals that have been contested by most Levantine nations.
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