Omani FM voices hope Israel's new leaders will advance Palestinian state

Oman is hopeful that the new government in Israel will take “concrete steps” toward establishing an independent Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital, the Omani foreign minister told his new Israeli counterpart on Thursday. 

Oman’s chief diplomat, Badr al-Busaidi, spoke on the phone with Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, according to the Omani state news agency. Lapid also serves as Israel’s alternate prime minister in the government that unseated former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this month.