Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON: US officials on Tuesday said that they were working to increase integration and cooperation between Israel and several Arab states prior to their meet-up as part of Negev Forum scheduled for the spring in Morocco.
Established in 2022, Negev Forum seeks to bring Israel and its Abraham Accords partners, Egypt and the US, closer.
US diplomats
US diplomats participated in a two-day steering committee meeting of the Negev Forum held in Abu Dhabi on Monday. Senior representatives from Bahrain, Morocco, Egypt and the UAE also participated in the steering committee meeting.
“What a Negev Forum did was create six working groups that met over the past two days,” Derek Chollet, a counselor at the US State Department, told the forum during a telephonic briefing.
He said that “These six working groups cover regional and global security, clean energy, food, and water security, tourism, health, and education and coexistence.”
“Very specifically, we have sought to develop clear, concrete and pragmatic steps that could bolster integration or help us augment security, peace, and economic prosperity in the Arab region.”
The forum expanded trade and economic relations, direct flights, and cultural, tourism, and academic exchanges between several Israel and Arab states.
Jordan, which signed the peace treaty with Israel in 1994, refused to participate unless Palestinians were allowed to be part of the forum. Palestinians view the forum as an attempt to sideline its key demands of independence and an end to the Israeli occupation.
American official for public diplomacy and public affairs, Elizabeth Allen, said that since the signing of the Abraham Accords in 2020, educational cooperation between Arab states and Israel has increased.
She said that “The goal of our collective efforts in this Negev Forum with our partners was to build a new regional framework that the potential to change a future of North Africa and the Middle East. That’s our ongoing work,”.
