Arab-Israeli Summit Masks Stalled Diplomatic Progress
The gathering in the Negev desert was historic, but it also underscored the failure to bring other Middle East nations into the Abraham Accords.
Less than meets the eye.
Photographer: Jacquelyn Martin/AFP/Getty Images
Billed as the first summit of the Abraham Accords, the gathering in the Negev desert Monday of foreign ministers of Israel, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, along with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, was certainly unprecedented. Two years ago, the three Arab foreign ministers wouldn’t have agreed to pose for photographs with their Israeli counterpart at the United Nations, never mind on his home soil.
There was more to it than a photo-op. Although the government of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett basked in his country’s newfound convening power, the meeting also demonstrated that the 2020 accords — under which four Arab states normalized relations with Israel — are a practical framework for cooperation on mutual benefits, such as trade ties, as well as common threats, such as Iran. (Egypt, which made peace with Israel in 1979, sent its foreign minister to the gathering, too.)