Secretary of State Tony Blinken will hold a virtual meeting on Friday with his counterparts from Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Abraham Accords.
Why it’s important: It is the most active and public demonstration of the Biden administration’s support for the agreements, which were the goal of President Trump’s foreign policy.
Behind the scenes: Israeli, Emirati and Bahraini officials have been pressuring the Biden administration for the past two months to hold some sort of commemoration. Officials from the three countries told Axios that the Biden administration was not compromising and only in recent days have they suggested holding the virtual meeting.
- “The event will commemorate the one-year anniversary of the signing of the Abraham Accords and discuss ways to deepen ties further and build a more prosperous region,” a senior State Department official told me. .
Flashback: The Abraham Accords were signed on September 15, 2020 in the White House by former President Trump, then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
- The agreements included the normalization of relations between Israel and the two Gulf states.
- The following month, Israel and Sudan announced that they would normalize relations.
- In December, following the US elections, Morocco renewed diplomatic relations with Israel in exchange for the United States recognizing the disputed Western Sahara as part of Morocco.
The overview: Biden supported Abraham’s agreements as a presidential candidate and reiterated his support after taking office. But the Biden administration was reluctant to use the term “Abraham Accords,” which was directly related to Trump’s legacy.
- However, the Biden administration took several steps to stabilize the agreements, including those that allowed it to pass an agreement to sell F-35 fighter jets to the UAE and maintain Trump’s recognition of Moroccan sovereignty in the United Arab Emirates. Western Sahara
- The Biden administration also followed a $ 700 million aid package to Sudan promised by Trump as part of the normalization deal with Israel.
What follows: The Biden administration continues to work to finalize the Israel-Sudan agreement and organize an official signing ceremony, as requested by the Sudanese. Administration officials say they are also working to convince more Arab countries to normalize relations with Israel.
It is necessary to emphasize: Yael Lampert, the deputy deputy secretary of state for Middle East affairs, attended a ceremony organized by the American Institute for Peace Agreements on Tuesday, founded by Jared Kushner and former US envoy Avi. Berkowitz, who negotiated the agreements.