Foreign Minister Sees Abraham Accords Summit in Morocco in March

YERUSHALAYIM (Reuters) – New Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said on Monday he planned to attend a summit in March with counterparts from Arab countries that have drawn closer to Israel following a U.S.-sponsored diplomatic drive in 2020.

Cohen said the summit would be hosted by Morocco, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.

The statement did not name other countries. Israel has in the past cited Morocco, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan as belonging to the normalization agreements dubbed the “Abraham Accords.”

Netanyahu has voiced hope of establishing relations with Saudi Arabia, which shares Israel’s worries about Iran. But Riyadh has been cool to normalization in the absence of progress in the Palestinians’ statehood drive.

The directors-general of the Foreign Ministries of countries participating in the March summit are scheduled to meet in Abu Dhabi next week, Cohen said.

Last March, Israel hosted the Emirati, Bahrain, Moroccan and Egyptian foreign ministers, along with the U.S. secretary of state, for an event dubbed the Negev Summit.