More Arab-Israeli peace treaties? Top Trump officials leave for Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi
After the much talked about UAE-Israel peace treaty that concluded last week, more such deals are expected soon.
The Trump administration announced it will send two top officials to the Middle East this week in a bid to capitalise on momentum from the historic agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to establish diplomatic relations.
News agency AP reported that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and President Donald Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner are making separate, multiple-nation visits to the region in the coming days to push Arab-Israeli rapprochement.
Pompeo is expected to depart on Sunday for Israel, Bahrain, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Sudan, according to the diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the itinerary has not yet been finalised or publicly announced. Kushner plans to leave later in the week for Israel, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Morocco, the diplomats said.
Neither trip is expected to result in announcements of immediate breakthrough, the diplomats said, although both are aimed at finalising at least one, and potentially more, normalisation deals with Israel in the near future, AP reported.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) had signed a historic peace deal with Israel earlier in the week, becoming the third Arab nation after Egypt and Jordan to do so. Coming after a lot of backdoor negotiations, the UAE-Israel deal evinced a “strategic agenda” for the Middle East to expand “diplomatic, trade, and security cooperation”, noting that the the two nations “shared a similar outlook regarding the threats and opportunities in the region”.
The historic agreement delivered a key foreign policy victory to Trump as he seeks reelection and reflected a changing Middle East in which shared concerns about archenemy Iran have largely overtaken traditional Arab support for the Palestinians.
The White House and State Department had no comment on the planned trips, which will come as the administration steps up efforts to push for Arab-Israeli normalisation even without a resolution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
They also come as the administration has taken the controversial step of triggering the restoration of all international sanctions on Iran, something that only Israel and the Gulf Arab nations have publicly supported.
According to AP, US and Israeli officials have suggested that more Arab nations may soon follow the UAE's lead, with Bahrain and Oman believed to be closest to sealing such deals.
News agency AP reported that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and President Donald Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner are making separate, multiple-nation visits to the region in the coming days to push Arab-Israeli rapprochement.
Pompeo is expected to depart on Sunday for Israel, Bahrain, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Sudan, according to the diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the itinerary has not yet been finalised or publicly announced. Kushner plans to leave later in the week for Israel, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Morocco, the diplomats said.
Neither trip is expected to result in announcements of immediate breakthrough, the diplomats said, although both are aimed at finalising at least one, and potentially more, normalisation deals with Israel in the near future, AP reported.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) had signed a historic peace deal with Israel earlier in the week, becoming the third Arab nation after Egypt and Jordan to do so. Coming after a lot of backdoor negotiations, the UAE-Israel deal evinced a “strategic agenda” for the Middle East to expand “diplomatic, trade, and security cooperation”, noting that the the two nations “shared a similar outlook regarding the threats and opportunities in the region”.
The historic agreement delivered a key foreign policy victory to Trump as he seeks reelection and reflected a changing Middle East in which shared concerns about archenemy Iran have largely overtaken traditional Arab support for the Palestinians.
The White House and State Department had no comment on the planned trips, which will come as the administration steps up efforts to push for Arab-Israeli normalisation even without a resolution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
They also come as the administration has taken the controversial step of triggering the restoration of all international sanctions on Iran, something that only Israel and the Gulf Arab nations have publicly supported.
According to AP, US and Israeli officials have suggested that more Arab nations may soon follow the UAE's lead, with Bahrain and Oman believed to be closest to sealing such deals.