(Communicated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
Minister of Foreign Affairs Yair Lapid is hosting US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and the foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Egypt at 'The Negev Summit' in Sde Boker, this afternoon
The foreign ministers also include United Arab Emirates H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bahrain Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Morocco Nasser Bourita, and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt Sameh Shoukry.
A day before the summit opened, terrorists killed two Israelis in the coastal city of Hadera, less than a week after murdering four more near Beer Sheva. "The terrorists’ goal is to intimidate us, to make us afraid to meet and build the relationships and agreements between us. " Foreign Minister Yair Lapid told summit attendees. "(But) we have no intention of letting them dictate our lives or set our policy."
Mr. Lapid sent condolences to the families and continued: "Last night we decided to make the Negev Summit into a permanent forum... we are today opening a door before all the peoples of the region, including the Palestinians, and offering them to replace the way of terror and destruction with a shared future of progress and success.... the shared capabilities we are building intimidates and deters our common enemies - first and foremost Iran and its proxies - they certainly have something to fear."
The Middle East is Changing
Ahead of the meeting, Secretary Blinken met with Israel's Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, and said: "We appreciate all efforts by allies and partners to stop the catastrophic suffering that Russia's aggression is causing for the people of Ukraine... (including israel's) humanitarian aid to Ukraine... and the field hospital...."
He then went on to praise Prime Minister Bennett's "recent trilateral summit with President El-Sisi and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, as well as President Herzog's visit to Turkey for meetings with President Erdogan and others ... the latest demonstrations of broader engagement that is made possible as normalization becomes the new normal throughout the region."
PM Bennett, who is not attending the Sde Boker summit due to contracting Covid, replied to Secretary Blinken saying that, "The Middle East is changing and it's changing for the better ... We're working together to overcome the old forces of darkness and build a new future that is better, brighter, and more promising ... Israel is a force for peace, prosperity, stability, and for doing good. That's what we're about. To be strong here and do good. And unfortunately, there are other forces in the region that are still violent and destructive."
Standard Procedure
Yesterday, two border policemen, Shirel Abukarat and Yezen Falah were killed by ISIS operatives in the Israeli city of Hadera - three days after four other Israelis were stabbed by Palestinian terrorists in the south of the country.
Terrorist attacks are often the response to peace treaties in Israel, as was the case in 1996 following the Oslo accords (over 40 Israelis were murdered), the retreat from Gaza in 2005, and so on.
Attendants of the summit, as well as leaders from around the world, condemned the attack.
History in the Making
Taking place at the kibbutz that served as home for Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, the summit pinpoints the fruits of the swiftly developing Middle East peace process. Following the 2020 Abraham Accords, trade between Israel and the Emirates, for example, increased in the past year to about $1 billion - a 20-fold increase over the previous year.
Among other initiatives, partners have envisioned a joint early-warning communication system to detect Iranian drones, and an Israeli military officer is expected to join a Bahrain-based regional military task force battling Persian Gulf piracy.
Egypt, for its part, has just agreed to open a direct flight route between Ben Gurion Airport and the Sinai city of Sharm el-sheik.
But more than anything else, the summit is serving as a platform for regional countries to express their concern to the US Secretary of State regarding his country's perceived intentions to delist Iran's Revolutionary Guard and its proxies in Gaza, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, as an agent of terrorism, and to ease sanctions over Iran as it develops its nuclear capabilities.