After meeting for the Negev Summit, Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani, left, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Morocco’s Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, and United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, pose for a photograph Monday, March 28, 2022, in Sde Boker, Israel. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

The heads of diplomacy from Israel, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Bahrain this Monday laid the foundations for the creation of a military alliance, a ‘NATO of the Middle East, according to El País.

The Negev summit, in southern Israel, was attended by the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, who also participated in the coordination of this strategy whose main objective is to deter Iran from potential expansionist actions.

Israel, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco intend to establish a “new regional architecture” in this way. Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said the plans to create a regional military alliance serve to confront “Iran and its associated militias”.

The unprecedented summit resulted in a stable forum for “cooperation in matters of security, intelligence and technology”, and was described as a milestone of “economic progress and religious tolerance”.

At the joint press conference that followed the summit, Lapid stressed that “this new architecture of shared capabilities that we are building will intimidate our common friends”.

In the Israeli press, it is highlighted that the future military alliance will be mainly maritime and against maritime and air threats, in order to neutralize the growing threat of drones.

The two most notable absences from this summit were those of the Palestinian Authorities and Jordan. Although Jordan had been invited to attend the historic Negev summit, King Abdullah II preferred to travel to Palestine and meet the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmud Abbas, in order to reaffirm Jordan’s support for the Palestinian cause.

Source: with agencies