News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) Despite its attendance at the Annapolis Peace Conference, Bahrain lawmakers have voted to reinstitute a full boycott of Israel due to the continued conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

The parliament of Bahrain, which is one of several Arab League countries represented at Tuesday's Annapolis conference, called upon fellow Arabs last week to terminate contact with Israel. Many Arab League countries have maintained a boycott of Israel since 1945, prohibiting direct trade between Israel and the Arab nations and blacklisting companies that do business with Israel. However, the boycott has weakened in the last two decades as the Arab world has sought trade relationships with countries and businesses that deal with Israel.

While the Bahraini government closed its Office for the Boycott of Israel last year, Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa was quoted by the country's Gulf Daily News as saying that Bahrain continued its boycott even without the office, and that Israel is still considered an enemy.