Israeli, US and Arab foreign ministers condemn Hadera attack

Four Arab countries sent their foreign ministers to the Negev desert this week for an unprecedented diplomatic summit that Israel says will now happen every year.

Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates were represented at the two-day meeting, which took place at a resort in the kibbutz of Sde Boker.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who also attended, said the event would have been “impossible to imagine” just a few years ago while Israeli foreign minister Yair Lapid said it was “making history”.

It came two years after the Abraham Accords, a series of agreements that saw Israel normalise its relations with several Arab countries, allowing them to exchange ambassadors and develop business ties.

The six foreign ministers posed for handshakes and group photographs, and pledged to expand cooperation in energy and security matters.

They agreed also to work together to counter Iran’s growing influence in the Middle East.

Lapid said the intention was for the gathering to be held every year from now on: “This new architecture, 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. What will stop them is not hesitation or being conciliatory but rather determination and strength.”

Blinken added: “Just a few years ago this gathering would have been impossible to imagine.

“The United States has and will continue to strongly support a process that is transforming the region and beyond.”

Some of the ministers committed to try bring other countries into the agreements.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar are among those Arab countries that have never had diplomatic relations with Israel.

Sudan, which had shown interest in joining the Abraham Accords before a military coup in the country last year, did not attend the Sde Boker event.

There was no representative either from Jordan, a country that has had a diplomatic relationship with Israel for nearly three decades, even though it has been frosty at times.

Its king, Abdullah II, instead made a rare visit to Ramallah where he met the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

He said the region “cannot enjoy security and stability without a just and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian issue”.

The meeting in Israel was overshadowed by a deadly shooting in the town of Hadera, which was condemned by the four Arab foreign ministers who attended.

But they also said it was critical to find a definitive solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Egypt’s foreign minister Sameh Shoukry said: “We did highlight the importance of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, importance of maintaining the credibility and viability of the two-state solution.

“This an important issue.”