picture released, Reuters
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said that deepening relations with Arab countries will help “in the first place” to confront the threat from Iran.
Lapid spoke after a historic meeting in the Negev desert with his counterparts from four Arab countries, in the presence of US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
The foreign ministers of the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco, countries that established relations with Israel during 2020, participated in the meeting, in addition to the foreign minister of Egypt, which concluded a peace agreement with Israel in 1979.
The ministers participating in the meeting pledged to continue developing the partnership between them.
Arab officials and the US Secretary of State also affirmed their support for a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as they support the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel as part of these endeavors, a matter that Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has ruled out.
Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh said that the Palestinian government is following with “great concern” the Arab normalization meetings that take place without ending the occupation, noting that these meetings are nothing but an “illusion, a mirage and a free reward for Israel,” as he put it.
As ministers gathered at a hotel in the Israeli Negev desert Sunday night, two Arab Israeli gunmen launched an attack in the northern Israeli city of Hadera, killing two policemen and wounding six.
The militants were shot dead by anti-terror officers. Islamic State said it carried out the attack.
Foreign ministers condemned the incident, and Morocco said the summit was the “best response” to such attacks.
After the meeting, which took place on Monday morning, the Israeli foreign minister said that the delegations agreed that the meeting would turn into a “permanent forum.”
Lapid added, “What we are doing here is making history and building a new regional architecture based on progress, technology, religious tolerance, security and intelligence cooperation. This new structure and the joint capabilities we are building intimidate and deter our common enemies first and foremost Iran and its proxies.”
Meanwhile, King Abdullah II of Jordan visited Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah, today, Monday, in his first visit since 2017.
Blinken also held talks with Abbas on Sunday, where he reiterated his support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and for increased funding for the Palestinians.
Earlier in the day, Blinken met the Israeli prime minister in Jerusalem, after which Bennett’s spokesman said the prime minister had been confirmed to have the coronavirus.
Israel is holding talks with the United States at a time when Israeli fears are growing that Washington is on the verge of signing a deal with Iran to curb its nuclear program in exchange for an end to sanctions imposed on it.
Israel is concerned that the United States will remove Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from its list of terrorist groups as part of the deal.
Former US President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and reinstated sanctions. In return, Iran abandoned many of its obligations under the deal that had limited its nuclear activities.
Israel says it believes that the new agreement will be weaker than the previous one, and will enable Iran to intensify its military activities throughout the region.
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