By Janet Ekstract
ISTANBUL-The two-day Israel Summit aka the “Negev Summit” began on Sunday and has been hailed as an unprecedented meeting with productive discussions on strengthening regional cooperation especially where security is concerned as well as economic cooperation with an eye toward having more countries joining future talks. Several take-aways from the summit were agreements on preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear power and increasing communication with the Biden administration on issues of mutual benefit to all of the countries including the U.S.
The summit that met in the desert resort of the Negev in southern Israel was initiated by Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid. He said one major aim of the summit “is to create “a new regional architecture that will deter Iran.” It was the first time that foreign ministers of all six nations gathered as well as the first visit to Israel by foreign ministers from the UAE and Morocco. Blinken reflected on the fact that this summit would not have taken place a few years ago and gave his promise to support other countries in forming relations with Israel. Blinken added though that “the regional peace agreements are not a substitute for peace with the Palestinians.” Under the Trump administration in the latter half of 2020, peace and normalization agreements were signed between Israel, the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco that were known as the Abraham Accords.
On Sunday, Israeli officials told the press that major areas of discussion included a possible nuclear deal with Iran and how the war in Ukraine is affecting the Middle East. Those talks continued on Monday during a two-hour plenary meeting where all parties agreed to turn the Negev Summit into an annual forum to rotate between countries. The decision was to form six working groups to focus on security issues, energy, tourism, health, education, food and water security. Two senior Israeli officials told Axios that the ministers also talked about creating a regional framework for cooperation against ballistic missiles, drones and piracy in the Red Sea region. Blinken did bring up the Palestinian issue and discussed how to strengthen the Palestinian Authority.
Meanwhile, there was concern about the Houthi attacks on Saudia Arabia and the UAE as well as the threat from Hezbollah and Iran’s nuclear program. Egypt’s foreign minister said his country views the normalization agreements in a positive light. He said they demonstrate a continuation of the commitment Egypt made four decades ago to make peace with Israel. The Egyptian minister also mentioned the Palestinian issue and emphasized avoiding unilateral measures that could provoke an escalation especially prior to Ramadan, Easter and Passover. Morocco’s foreign minister said he will visit Israel again soon to announce an upgrade to its diplomatic representation in the country. While UAE minister Bin Zayed labeled the summit “historic” and said: “We are trying to change the narrative and create a better future for the region.” Jordan was noticeably absent from the summit since it chose not to participate and King Abdullah II during the summit made his first visit to Ramallah in the West Bank since 2017 to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
