Doha (AsiaNews) Qatar's invitation to Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to visit Doha, the Arab nation's capital, might become a "breakthrough" in Middle East political relations.
If accepted it would be the first time that an Israeli minister visits Qatar in what is seen by many as an effort by moderate Arab regime to push the diplomatic envelope in the region.
According to Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, the Israeli government is vetting the possibility of following through with Qatar's offer.
Although Livni's visit would be the first of its kind, relations between the two countries had already been warming up. Last year, then foreign minister Silvan Shalom met his Qatari counterpart, Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al-Thani, at the United Nations headquarters in New York. Qatar at the time revealed that it was contemplating establishing open diplomatic relations with Israel.
In recent years, the small Gulf state has been trying to carve out its own place in the region's politics. In early October, Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassim tried in vain to mediate between Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the formation of a Palestinian government of national unity.