Agence France-Presse quoted Israeli officials as saying that diplomats from the United States, Israel and 4 Arab countries will meet in Bahrain today, ahead of US President Joe Biden's visit to the region.
The talks in Manama bring together officials from the foreign ministries of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco, which normalized relations with Israel in 2020, and from Egypt, which made peace with Israel in 1979.
The meetings aim to deepen cooperation in areas including water, tourism, health, energy, food security and regional security.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement that "the meeting on Monday will also be a prominent event before the expected visit of the American president to the Middle East."
The foreign ministers of the countries participating in the meeting met for the first time in the Negev desert three months ago, in the presence of US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
The UAE and Bahrain established relations with Israel under the "Abraham Accords" mediated by former US President Donald Trump, and Morocco restored relations with Israel under a separate agreement brokered by the Trump administration as well.
The "Abraham Accords" angered the Palestinians, who considered them a departure from the Arab consensus not to normalize relations with Israel, until the latter agreed to establish a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit Israel, the occupied West Bank and Saudi Arabia from July 13-16, his first trip to the Middle East since taking office.
A US official said that he will attend the Gulf Cooperation Council summit in Saudi Arabia with the leaders of the Kingdom, the Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman, and the leaders of Egypt, Iraq and Jordan will join them.