A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Friday, March 6, 2009

Mauritania Suspends Israeli Ties

It looks like I'm going to lose the opportunity to pose one of my favorite trivia questions: besides Egypt and Jordan, what other Arab state has full diplomatic relations with Israel?

The answer, Mauritania, may now be in doubt: in January they withdrew their own Ambassador from Israel to protest its actions in Gaza, and now they have asked the Israeli Ambassador in Nouakchott to leave.

The present Mauritanian regime, which took power in 2008, and its predecessors have been uncomfortable with the Israeli tie, which was formed back in 1999 when the peace process seemed a lot closer to achieving something than it does now, and when the long-ruling Maaouiya Ould Sid Ahmed Taya was still in power in Mauritania.

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