summit meeting
Blinking in Israel – Meeting with four Arab states
US Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides (l) greets US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at Ben Gurion Airport upon his arrival. Photo: Jacquelyn Martin/Pool AP/dpa
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The talks are under the influence of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. US Secretary of State Blinken meets with Israeli and Arab counterparts at historic site.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with his Israeli counterpart Jair Lapid in Jerusalem on Sunday ahead of a summit meeting with representatives of four Arab states in Israel.
He looks forward to “meeting old friends again and deepening connections as we work to build on our far-reaching partnerships,” Blinken said on Saturday as he left Warsaw.
Blinken traveled to the Middle East against the backdrop of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. In addition to Israel, he will also visit the West Bank, Morocco and Algeria until Wednesday. In all talks, Blinken will emphasize “that the United States stands in solidarity with the government and people of Ukraine in the face of the Kremlin’s aggression,” the US State Department said. Other topics include the relationship between Israel and the Palestinians and Iran’s “destabilizing activities”.
Dinner planned for the evening
Blinken and Lapid later attend a summit meeting with the foreign ministers of four Arab countries in Sde Boker, southern Israel. The representatives of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Egypt were due to arrive in Israel on Sunday afternoon, with a dinner planned for the evening. Meetings and statements are scheduled for Monday. Israel’s Foreign Ministry classified the summit as historic.
Israel signed diplomatic relations agreements with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Washington in September 2020. Economic considerations are seen as the main driver of the rapprochement. But the countries are also forming an alliance against Iran. The UAE and Bahrain were followed by Morocco and Sudan. Previously, only two Arab states, Egypt and Jordan, had maintained diplomatic ties with Israel.
The town of Sde Boker in the Negev desert is considered a symbol of Zionist pioneering spirit in Israel. Here lies the burial place of the founder of the state and first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and his wife Paula.