Israel: “historic” summit with new Middle Eastern allies and the United States

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid after a joint press conference in Jerusalem on March 27.

AP - Jacquelyn Martin

Text by: RFI Follow

2 mins

While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is visiting the Middle East, this Sunday, March 27, marks the start of a two-day diplomatic summit in Israel.

The family photo is unpublished: United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, Egypt.

All these Arab countries have sent their foreign ministers to Israel to meet the head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, and his Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid.

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From our correspondent in Jerusalem

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The discussions will continue until Monday, March 28, in the afternoon, and will be followed by statements from the various players.

The meeting is given at Sde Boker, in the south of the Jewish state, a remote seaside resort, a place best known for having been the residence of David Ben Gurion.

This summit is described as " 

" by the Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs, even before it began.

On the program of discussions, there is first the Iranian nuclear agreement.

The challenge will be to speak to six, in a coordinated voice, about what is considered to be a common threat to all these countries.

It will also be a question of military, technological and security cooperation, the question of Western Sahara, or even ways to redefine the international balance since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

Privileged relationship with the United States

But this summit is above all important for Israel, which, in front of its new allies in the Middle East, asserts its privileged relationship with the United States and wants to present itself as a credible actor, and which relies on active diplomacy.

Just last Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and the leader of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed Bin Zayed, to discuss economic and security agreements.

This is where this two-day summit with Antony Blinken was prepared.

But one thing is certain: this regional cooperation will not change anything for the Palestinians, who remain largely forgotten in these discussions.

►Also read: Normalization agreements with Israel: the end of the Arab consensus around Palestine

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• Israel

• United States

• Morocco

• Egypt

• Bahrain

• United Arab Emirates

• Naftali Bennett