On Sunday afternoon, the foreign ministers of Egypt, Bahrain, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates arrived in the Israeli desert oasis of Sde Boker for a summit with the foreign ministers of Israel and the United States.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett spoke in the morning of a "day of celebration" and praised the strength of Israel's foreign relations: The country is now "an important player on the global and regional stage," said Bennett at the start of the cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.

Christopher Ehrhardt

Correspondent for the Arab countries based in Beirut.

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Christian Meier

Political correspondent for the Middle East and Northeast Africa.

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"We maintain old relationships and build new bridges." Samih Schukri, the foreign minister of Egypt, who made peace with Israel 43 years ago, is responsible for the old relationships.

The other three Arab foreign ministers stand for the new bridges: Aal-Latif bin Rashid al-Zayani from Bahrain, Nasser Bourita from Morocco and Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan from the Emirates.

Whether intended or not by Bennett and Secretary of State Jair Lapid - who planned the summit - the time and place of the meeting were steeped in symbolism.

David Ben-Gurion, Israel's Zionist founder and longtime Prime Minister, is buried in Sde Boker in the Negev desert.

Until recently, it would not have been so easy for most Arab politicians to pay homage to the history of their former arch-enemy so openly.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken then said on Sunday afternoon, before leaving for the Negev, that the summit meeting there was "something that, in my opinion, would have been unthinkable just a few years ago".

Palestinians shouldn't matter

A look at the date also shows how much times have changed since the signing of the “Abraham Accords” in 2020.

Exactly twenty years earlier, on March 27, 2002, the Arab League had passed the so-called “Arab Peace Initiative”.

Israel was offered normalization of relations if it withdraws from the occupied Palestinian territories.

It didn't come to that.

However, Jerusalem now maintains full diplomatic relations with several Arab countries – without any progress being made in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Palestinians are also unlikely to play a major role in the meeting, which began on Sunday and will continue this Monday.

However, Blinken made a detour to Ramallah before heading to the summit location for dinner.

There are enough topics that the Americans and the representatives of the Near and Middle Eastern countries have to discuss – and also enough irritations to be eliminated.

Even if Bennett did not name the country by name, it was already clear in his statements that the meeting would ultimately be about demonstrating the existence of a common front against Iran.

"There is one actor in the Middle East that is creating violence and obstacles, and there is one that is pushing for cooperation, prosperity and peace," Bennett said.

He added that the Arabs are increasingly understanding that Israel is that second player.

Bennett also reiterated his opposition to a new nuclear deal with Iran on Sunday.

What he calls "moderate" Arab countries share Israel's concerns about Iran.

The United States, on the other hand, wants to revive the nuclear agreement as soon as possible.

At the moment, the struggle for individual points continues.

US Iran special envoy Robert Malley said at the Doha forum in the Qatari capital on Sunday that he could not express any confidence that a new deal was imminent.

Iranian Kamal Kharrazi, an adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, previously spoke to the contrary in the same venue: "It's imminent," Kharrazi said.

"It depends on the political will of the United States." Among other things, the question is whether the Americans will reverse the classification of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization in 2019.

Israel vehemently rejects such a step - and that should also apply to the other representatives in Sde Boker.

Criticism of "deal" between Abu Dhabi and Moscow

In addition, the focus will be on Emirati-American relations.

They were going through a "stress test," Emirati ambassador to Washington Yousef Otaiba said earlier this month.

It was an unusually frank admission.

Relations have not improved since then.

The Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad was recently a guest in the Emirates.

Images of warm greetings went around the world at the same time as the terrifying images from Mariupol, reminiscent of the devastation caused by Russian and Syrian bombers in cities like Aleppo.

In Abu Dhabi, the main source of irritation is Washington's rather lukewarm response to January's rocket and drone strikes by Yemen's Houthi rebels.

In general, there is frustration in many Gulf states that Washington is not adequately safeguarding its security interests because its interest in the region has waned.

The Emirates have vented their anger in a way that Gulf observers have dubbed “unwise”.

When the Washington government submitted a draft resolution to the UN Security Council condemning Putin's attack on Ukraine, the Emirates abstained.

Days later, Moscow voted to extend the arms embargo against the Houthis.

Western diplomats have criticized a "deal" between Abu Dhabi and Moscow.

Crown Prince Muhammad bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the strongman in the Emirates, has been difficult for Joe Biden to reach recently.

He wants to meet Blinken when he stops off in Morocco at the end of his Middle East trip.