Arab and Israeli partners got together on Sunday for a summit in Israel, attended by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who looks to comfort the United States allies on Washington’s diplomacy with Iran.
The issue is expected to influence the two-day summit, which includes foreign ministers from the three Arab states that normalised their relations with Israel in 2020, even as peacemaking with the Palestinians remained stalled.
Blinken’s visit has come up as some the United States allies in the region have doubts with regard to President Joe Biden administration’s commitment and are getting ready for the fallout from the Iranian nuclear deal as well as the Ukrainian crisis.
Several weeks ago, the nuclear talks were close to a final agreement when Russia made some last-minute demands from the United States, holding out that sanctions imposed on Moscow over its Ukraine invasion should not affect the Russian trade with Iran.
Reinstating the 2015 nuclear deal is the surefire way to put the Iranian nuclear programme back into the place it earlier was, said Blinken.
Even if it doesn’t happen, the United States commitment to the fundamental principle of Iran never possessing a nuclear weapon is unfaltering, he said before the summit started, standing next to his Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Yair Lapid in Jerusalem.
“The United States will continue to stand up to Iran when it threatens us or when it threatens our allies and partners,” Blinken added.
For Israel, the internal security concerns heightened when two Arab attackers, identified by security officials as Israeli citizens and Islamic State supporters, killed two border police officers in Hadera city which is 50 km north of the capital Tel Aviv. Police shot and killed the two assailants.
According to a statement that posted on the group’s Telegram account, the Islamic State has claimed the responsibility for the attack.
“We condemn today’s terrorist attack in Hadera, Israel. Such senseless acts of violence and murder have no place in society” Blinken wrote on Twitter.
At the summit, Blinken is expected to pressurize its Arab allies to push up their support to Ukraine so as to ward off the Russian invasion.
After discussions with Blinken, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said that he hoped Washington will listen to the concerned voices in the region, Israel’s and others.
Egypt’s foreign minister, Sameh Hassan Shoukry, is also joining the summit.
“Normalisation is becoming the new normal in the region,” Blinken said, adding that Washington was hoping to bring in others.
Before leaving for the summit venue, Blinken held discussions in the occupied West Bank with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and expressed continued determination from the United States for a two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The venue for the foreign ministers’ meeting is Sde Boker in southern Israel, where Israel’s founding father and the first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, retired and is buried.
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