Will Morocco’s Sahara host the next Israeli-Arab summit?

During the last Negev summit bringing together Arab foreign ministers with their Israeli and US peers, Morocco’s foreign minister voiced hope to see the next summer held in “another Sahara” alluding to Morocco’s southern provinces.

On January 2, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said the next summit would be held in Morocco and that he and Arab states recognizing Israel will hold a meeting in Abu Dhabi to discuss the meeting’s agenda.

In March 2021, the Negev summit hosted the Emirati, Bahraini, Moroccan and Egyptian foreign ministers, along with the U.S. secretary of state.

The Times of Israel reported the US was planning the meeting between Israel and the Arab countries with whom it has diplomatic ties in early 2023 as the Americans push the incoming right-wing government of Benjamin Netanyahu to show restraint.

Israel and the US want other Arab countries to join the “Abraham accords,” especially Saudi Arabia with whom Israel share concerns about Iran’s security threats.

Earlier in December, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken hailed the Negev Summit, and added that “early next year, working groups will meet to expand collaboration on key issues in the areas that we’ve set out for cooperation under Negev, including health, food security, tourism, regional security.”

But for Israeli foreign minister “expanding the accords to other countries is not a matter of ‘if’ but of ‘when’.”

He added that Israel’s ties with current Arab partners had yielded $2.85 billion in 2022 trade and “a significant contribution to security (and) regional stability”.