The story goes on under the ad Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said the countries would try to hold the summit annually. The six-day meeting in the southern desert of Israel, dubbed the “Negev Summit,” represents the kind of approach the United States has long sought. But it also came amid a growing list of tensions between Washington and its allies in the Middle East, including the resurgence of the Iran nuclear deal, growing tensions between Israelis and Palestinians, and a vague response to the Russian invasion of Israel and Israel. partners. The Arab governments in attendance thanked Israel for its hospitality, but also said it needed to make progress in implementing a two-state solution for the Palestinians based in East Jerusalem. “Our message must be that we are here to defend our values, to defend our interests,” said Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Burita, who said the creation of a future Palestinian state was still “possible”. . The story goes on under the ad “We are here to be a force for peace,” he said, in a message echoed by Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry. Israeli officials had hoped that external events would not distract from the meeting, including the killing of two Israeli border police officers and their gunmen on Sunday 30 miles outside Tel Aviv, raising concerns about the return of . Hamas praised the attack and linked it to the meeting of Arab countries in the desert. Israeli security officials described the perpetrators as Palestinian citizens of Israel and supporters of the Islamic State. Lapid said the terrorist acts would not intimidate Israel or impede the progress of the meeting. “They will not succeed. “We will not let them go,” Lapid said. The story goes on under the ad Burita agreed, saying “our presence today is the best response to such attacks.” A parallel meeting was scheduled for Monday between Jordanian King Abdullah II and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who criticized the summit as a “tough attack on the Palestinians”. Abbas and other Palestinian leaders have long opposed normalization agreements between Arab states and Israel as a means of downplaying the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Trump administration, which mediated the Arab-Israeli reconciliation agreement in 2020, largely ignored the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, something Blinken said he would not do. “We must be clear that these regional peace agreements are not a substitute for progress between the Palestinians and the Israelis,” he said. The story goes on under the ad The Biden government, while supporting the normalization agreements, has sought to improve the situation for the Palestinians, a point Blinken stressed during his meeting with Abbas on Sunday. Blinken voiced support for a two-state solution and spoke out against Israeli construction of settlements in a disputed area, while also criticizing Palestinians for payments to terrorist families. “The United States is committed to rebuilding our relationship with the Palestinian Authority and with the Palestinian people,” Blinken told Abbas, as he pledged to continue to provide financial development assistance and $ 500 million in humanitarian aid. The story goes on under the ad Abbas accused the West of “double standards” in punishing Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, while leaving unpunished Israel’s aggression against the Palestinians. “Despite the crimes of Israeli occupation that amounted to ethnic cleansing and racial discrimination … we find no one who holds Israel responsible for behaving as a state above the law,” he said. In addition to overcoming political differences, the merger had to address a number of logistical issues. On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett tested positive for the coronavirus, a result that came just hours after his meeting with Blinken at the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem. The State Department found that Blinken was “in close contact” with Bennett, but continued his meetings with the Negev, choosing to keep his mask on during meetings with his counterparts.
