MANAMA — The
US, Israel, and four Arab
countries agreed to closer cooperation and annual foreign ministers’ meetings
on Monday, two weeks before President Joe Biden’s first visit to the Middle
East.
اضافة اعلان
Bahrain, host of the six-way talks, the UAE, and
Morocco all opened ties with Israel under the US-brokered Abraham Accords in
2020, while Egypt made peace with the Israel in 1979.
Monday’s meeting follows a foreign ministers’ summit
in the Negev desert in March, and comes ahead of Biden’s visit to Israel, the
Israeli-occupied West Bank, and
Saudi Arabia from July 13 to 16.
“We’re trying to build a new regional framework ...
and tangible initiatives that can put flesh on the bones of the Negev forum,”
said Yael Lempert, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near
Eastern Affairs.
Working groups will investigate cooperation in six
areas, including security, clean energy, and food and water security.
A joint statement also expressed the group’s support
for a negotiated settlement to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
“It’s a very holistic approach, towards trying to
advance this goal of building a new architecture that really has meaningful
results,” Lempert told reporters.
Foreign ministers from the six countries are
expected to meet annually and the next ministerial talks should take place
later this year, the statement said.
The Manama meeting is part of a flurry of diplomatic
activity in the region ahead of
Biden’s visit, which Washington has played up
as a boost for regional ties.
The US president has drawn heavy criticism over the
trip, which contradicts his description of Saudi Arabia as a “pariah”.
His visit to the world’s top oil exporter follows a
sharp rise in crude prices since
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, causing pain for
US voters and economies around the world.
Among the rash of official visits, Saudi’s Crown
Prince Mohammed bin Salman last week was in Turkey for the first time since
Khashoggi’s killing in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Iraq’s prime minister was in Saudi Arabia and Iran,
and Qatar’s emir visited Cairo for the first time since the countries restored
relations following a Saudi-led rift.
On Monday, Egyptian flags fluttered in the Bahraini
capital ahead of the visit of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, who is expected
in the kingdom after a trip to Oman.
The UAE and Bahrain forged ties with Israel under
the Abraham Accords, brokered by former US president Donald Trump, and later
Morocco re-established relations with Israel.
The
Abraham Accords infuriated the Palestinians, who argued
that they marked a betrayal of a decades-old Arab consensus to isolate Israel
until it agrees to the establishment of a Palestinian state, with its capital
in east Jerusalem.
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