Some 200 officials from Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, the U.S. and Egypt are convening in Abu Dhabi today and Tuesday to debate ways to strengthen and expand regional cooperation and integration within the Middle East. The Negev Forum convening marks the third in-person gathering of the steering committee and first meeting of the working groups for the reason that initial Negev Summit held within the Israeli desert last March, Jewish Insider’s Ruth Marks Eglash and Gabby Deutch report.
Seeing clearly: Dana Erlich, director of the coordination department for the bureau of the Director General of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told JI in a phone interview from Abu Dhabi that the main target of this week’s meeting was “to make clear and discover some concrete and tangible projects that we will move forward on and to create joint projects that may profit the lives of all of the people within the region.”
Pushing on: The summit comes days after the UAE called on the United Nations Security Council to carry an emergency meeting to debate the controversial visit last week of newly inaugurated National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. Despite the stress, nonetheless, a 30-member Israeli delegation arrived within the Emirati capital on Monday. “We’re all just very completely happy to be here,” Erlich told JI. “All of us understand the tensions and the politics, but we’re all continuing to work together for a greater future.” She said arranging the gathering, which incorporates some 200 senior officials representing the six countries, was more a challenge of coordination and logistics.
Widening the circle: It was hoped that more Middle East countries would join the method but to this point none have, including Jordan, which signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994. More recently, on the U.N.’s Climate Change Summit COP27 in November in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, Amman signed bilateral and trilateral declarations of intent with Israel and the UAE on the problem of water security and energy. “Jordan has been invited to affix the Negev Forum and we’re still waiting for them to affix,” said Erlich. “Normally, the Negev Forum is one platform, one mechanism for cooperation, and we’re still doing bilateral, trilateral and other geometric collaborations – the collaboration specifically with Jordan isn’t a part of the Negev Forum but obviously, they’re welcome to affix, and we’ll see how different projects can come together.”
Showing up: Israel’s delegation, headed by Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Alon Ushpiz, includes representatives from Israel’s Ministries of Defense, Health, Agriculture, Economy, Energy, Intelligence, Tourism and Education, in addition to from the Water Authority and the National Security Council. A U.S. delegation of some 40 officials and diplomats can be participating within the meet-up. Headed by State Department Counselor Derek Chollet, the mission includes representatives from the State Department, USAID, the Department of Defense, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in addition to several other government agencies.