Its Xavier Blog

  The meeting of the Negev Forum steering committee opened this morning in Abu Dhabi, with the participation of delegations from the six member countries: the UAE, Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco, USA and Israel. six countries will  meet following an increase in tensions in Jerusalem after a controversial visit by Israel's new national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to Al Aqsa mosque compound.  In March last year, the six nations agreed to form six working groups — on regional security, energy, food and water security, health, education and tolerance, and tourism — aimed at forging closer ties. Senior officials from the six participating countries last met in June in Bahrain to discuss the next steps after the inaugural Negev Summit was held in March last year .

  Jordan will be the only Arab country with full diplomatic relations with Israel that will not be sending a delegation to the United Arab Emirates where, for the first time, interagency teams known as working groups will be gathering from the US, Israel, the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Egypt to discuss joint regional projects in a variety of fields. Also Jordan has held firm in its position against joining the Negev Forum so long as the Palestinians will not be participating alongside them — a stance that has led to a dead-end, given the Palestinian Authority’s refusal to openly cooperate with an initiative it views as part of an effort to sideline its cause.  Advocates of the Negev Forum argue that Jordan only stands to lose by remaining on the sidelines as the regional projects move forward. The US is not giving up on folding the Hashemite kingdom into the collaborative and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised the issue in a phone call with Jordanian Foreign Minister ...