SDE Boker: US Secretary of State State Antony Blinken and top diplomats Israel and four Arab countries held a historic meeting on Monday to discuss issues Iran Nuclear talks for the global shock of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
For the first time on Israeli soil, the talks were brought together, the Foreign Minister United Arab EmiratesBahrain and Morocco, which normalized relations with the Jewish state in 2020, and Egypt, which made peace with Israel in 1979.
Its opening late Sunday, in SD Boker The kibbutz, deep in the Negev desert, was killed by a shooting attack in northern Israel that killed two police officers and was claimed by the Islamic State group, which rarely managed to stage attacks inside Israel.
And early Monday, Prime Minister Naftali BennettThe U.S. office confirmed that he had caught COVID a day after a closed-door meeting with Blinken, followed by a joint press conference without a mask.
state Department Said Blinken, who was jogging in the Negev early Monday, was the only member of the US delegation believed to be a “close contact” of Bennett and would follow public health guidelines “including masking and proper testing”.
The Negev meeting takes place as the United States and European allies express quiet disappointment that Middle East countries have not shown strong support for efforts to back Ukraine after Russia’s invasion and distance themselves from Moscow. .
But Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed any pressure to criticize Russia, instead rebuking the West for the “double standards” that it punished Moscow by ignoring Israel’s “crimes” against Palestinians.
“Current events in Europe have shown clear double standards,” he said. blinken on Sunday. “Despite Israeli occupation crimes that amount to ethnic cleansing and racial discrimination … we haven’t found anyone who can hold Israel accountable for behaving as a state above the law,” he said.
Iran nuclear deal – Negotiations on restoring the 2015 Iran nuclear deal were high on the agenda in Sunday’s meetings with Israel’s Bennett, Foreign Minister yair lapidy and President Isaac Herzog. Speaking with Lapid, Blinken said that the US believes that reinstating the deal is “the best way to put Iran’s (nuclear) program back in the box” under the former US president’s withdrawal from the deal. after Donald Trump in 2018.
The EU’s foreign policy chief said over the weekend that an agreement with Iran to restore the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action could be reached “in a matter of days”. Blinken insisted that “when it comes to the most important element, we look at Israel face to face”. “We are both committed, both determined, that Iran will never acquire a nuclear weapon.”
Lapid said there is “disagreement” between the two sides about the deal, whose restoration is in the final stages of negotiations in Vienna after nearly a year of talks. But “open and honest dialogue is part of the strength of our friendship,” Lapid said. “At the same time, Israel will do whatever we think is necessary to stop the Iranian nuclear program.”
Terrorist group list – Bennett said after his meeting with Blinken that Israel was particularly concerned that the United States was involved in Iran’s alleged demands to designate the country’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a “foreign terrorist organization”. one can complete.
Speaking in Doha on Sunday, Robert Malle, the lead US negotiator for the Iran nuclear talks, played down that issue, noting that the IRGC would be subject to heavy US economic sanctions in any deal. At Israel Sunday, Blinken also discussed strategies to ensure peace during this year’s Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Christian Easter celebrations and the Jewish Passover holiday, which overlap.
Tensions in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem, which Palestinians claim as their future capital, partly fueled an 11-day conflict in May last year with the Islamic group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. .
Blinken stressed the need to escalate tensions in the occupied Palestinian territories “to prevent action on all sides, including (Jewish) settlement expansion”, a rare personal condemnation of Israel’s efforts to expand the Jewish settler population.
For the first time on Israeli soil, the talks were brought together, the Foreign Minister United Arab EmiratesBahrain and Morocco, which normalized relations with the Jewish state in 2020, and Egypt, which made peace with Israel in 1979.
Its opening late Sunday, in SD Boker The kibbutz, deep in the Negev desert, was killed by a shooting attack in northern Israel that killed two police officers and was claimed by the Islamic State group, which rarely managed to stage attacks inside Israel.
And early Monday, Prime Minister Naftali BennettThe U.S. office confirmed that he had caught COVID a day after a closed-door meeting with Blinken, followed by a joint press conference without a mask.
state Department Said Blinken, who was jogging in the Negev early Monday, was the only member of the US delegation believed to be a “close contact” of Bennett and would follow public health guidelines “including masking and proper testing”.
The Negev meeting takes place as the United States and European allies express quiet disappointment that Middle East countries have not shown strong support for efforts to back Ukraine after Russia’s invasion and distance themselves from Moscow. .
But Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed any pressure to criticize Russia, instead rebuking the West for the “double standards” that it punished Moscow by ignoring Israel’s “crimes” against Palestinians.
“Current events in Europe have shown clear double standards,” he said. blinken on Sunday. “Despite Israeli occupation crimes that amount to ethnic cleansing and racial discrimination … we haven’t found anyone who can hold Israel accountable for behaving as a state above the law,” he said.
Iran nuclear deal – Negotiations on restoring the 2015 Iran nuclear deal were high on the agenda in Sunday’s meetings with Israel’s Bennett, Foreign Minister yair lapidy and President Isaac Herzog. Speaking with Lapid, Blinken said that the US believes that reinstating the deal is “the best way to put Iran’s (nuclear) program back in the box” under the former US president’s withdrawal from the deal. after Donald Trump in 2018.
The EU’s foreign policy chief said over the weekend that an agreement with Iran to restore the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action could be reached “in a matter of days”. Blinken insisted that “when it comes to the most important element, we look at Israel face to face”. “We are both committed, both determined, that Iran will never acquire a nuclear weapon.”
Lapid said there is “disagreement” between the two sides about the deal, whose restoration is in the final stages of negotiations in Vienna after nearly a year of talks. But “open and honest dialogue is part of the strength of our friendship,” Lapid said. “At the same time, Israel will do whatever we think is necessary to stop the Iranian nuclear program.”
Terrorist group list – Bennett said after his meeting with Blinken that Israel was particularly concerned that the United States was involved in Iran’s alleged demands to designate the country’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a “foreign terrorist organization”. one can complete.
Speaking in Doha on Sunday, Robert Malle, the lead US negotiator for the Iran nuclear talks, played down that issue, noting that the IRGC would be subject to heavy US economic sanctions in any deal. At Israel Sunday, Blinken also discussed strategies to ensure peace during this year’s Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Christian Easter celebrations and the Jewish Passover holiday, which overlap.
Tensions in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem, which Palestinians claim as their future capital, partly fueled an 11-day conflict in May last year with the Islamic group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. .
Blinken stressed the need to escalate tensions in the occupied Palestinian territories “to prevent action on all sides, including (Jewish) settlement expansion”, a rare personal condemnation of Israel’s efforts to expand the Jewish settler population.