Today, Friday, Israel announced that it will host a "historic" meeting on Sunday and Monday between the foreign ministers of the United States and 3 Arab countries, and at the same time revealed the signing of a military memorandum with Morocco.

"At the invitation of Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, a historic diplomatic summit will be held next Sunday and Monday in Israel," the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The Arab countries that will participate in the meeting are Morocco, the UAE and Bahrain.

"The US Secretary of State and the foreign ministers of the UAE, Morocco and Bahrain will arrive in Israel to hold a series of diplomatic meetings," the ministry said.

The UAE and Bahrain normalized their relations with Israel in September 2020 under a US-brokered agreement, known as the Abraham Agreement.

At the end of the same year, Morocco announced the resumption of diplomatic relations with Israel, after their suspension in 2002.

An Israeli embassy was opened in Morocco during a visit by Foreign Minister Yair Lapid to Rabat last August.

The Moroccan liaison office in Tel Aviv was also reopened, and a direct flight between the two countries was launched.

The upcoming summit comes days after the leaders of Egypt, Israel and the United Arab Emirates met in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh for talks on the economic impact of the Russian war on Ukraine and Iranian influence.

Morocco and Israel signed an agreement to resume relations at the end of 2020 (French)

military cooperation

In a related context, the Israeli army said that Morocco and Israel had signed a memorandum of understanding on military cooperation.

The Israeli army spokesman, Avichai Adraee, stated that Morocco and Israel had signed a memorandum of understanding on military cooperation, including convening a joint military committee to sign a bilateral action plan.

The memorandum of understanding was signed on the first official Israeli military visit to Morocco, which concluded on Friday, without specifying when it began.

The Israeli military delegation included the head of the Strategic Authority and the Third Department of the army, Tal Kalman, and the commander of the Foreign Relations Brigade, Avi Davrin.

"During the visit in Rabat, the leaders met with General Doukur Darmy Belkheir Al-Farouq, Inspector General of the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces, and the commanders of the General Staff, including the head of the Intelligence Authority and the Chief of the Operations Authority," an army statement said.

He added that the Moroccan army leaders reviewed in the meetings the structure of the Moroccan security forces and the challenges they face, and "discussed the historical and cultural ties between the two countries and common interests in the Middle East, as they expressed their desire to develop military cooperation."

The two sides discussed opportunities for military cooperation in the fields of training and rehabilitation, in addition to the operational and intelligence fields.

There was no comment from the Moroccan authorities on this visit.

It is noteworthy that at the end of 2021, a security memorandum of understanding was signed, during Defense Minister Benny Gantz's visit to Rabat, aimed at organizing intelligence cooperation, security procurement and joint training.

At the time, the Israeli Defense Ministry said Gantz and Morocco's minister delegate to the prime minister in charge of national defense, Abdel Latif Loudiyi, had signed a groundbreaking defense memorandum of understanding.