US, Israel officials meet Arab foreign minister at Negev Summit to discuss Iran nuclear deal

Middle East, News, US March 29, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

After accompanying the U.S. President on his visit to Europe, the U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken reached Israel to participate in the Negev summit along with the Foreign Ministers of UAE, Morocco, Bahrain, Egypt, and Israel.

Top diplomats from all six countries came together to discuss a coordinated action plan against Iran, stressing the importance of Washington’s engagement in the region, and discuss how to maintain peace and stability between Israel and Palestine as the religious holidays approach.

The Arab participants of the Negev summit stressed on Israel to create and respect a sovereign Palestinian state signaling that despite normalizing their ties with Israel, the Arab nations have not abandoned their support for the Palestinian cause.

Israeli Foreign Minister and the host of Negev Summit Yair Lapid stated “we are making history, we are building a new regional architecture based on progress, technology, religious tolerance, security, and intelligence cooperation.” He further added that “This new architecture and shared capabilities that we are building, it would intimidate and deters our common enemies, first and foremost Iran and its proxies.”

This was the first Arab-Israel diplomatic meeting in Israel. While speaking about the summit, Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Emirati foreign minister said “This is our first time, If we are curious sometimes, and we want to know things and learn, it is because although Israel has been part of this region for a very long time, we have not known each other. So it is time to catch up.”

*^{Foreign Ministers of Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, U.S., Morocco, and UAE meet at Negev Summit, on March 28, 2022. (Image Credit: Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs/Twitter)}*

The summit took place in Sde Boker, a small desert city in Southern Israel, which is famous for being the hometown of first Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. All the participants agreed to meet every year at a different destination to discuss the matter of regional security.

The Foreign Ministers met at a time when American-backed efforts are in a full swing to secure a new nuclear deal with Iran. The participants of the Negev Summit coined their concerns about Iran’s nuclear capabilities and its implications for the region’s peace and security. Israeli foreign minister and his Arab counterparts also expressed their concerns in front of the U.S. Secretary of State that they find the new Iran nuclear deal to be too lenient.

The summit also provided a chance for the Emirati Foreign Minister to meet his U.S. counterpart in person for the first time since the Ukraine conflict started. The friction has been building between the two sides as UAE ignored U.S.’s request to increase its oil production to cater to the needs of the European market as an alternative source to Russian oil and gas.