The United States and Israel want to hold another forum of five meeting to seek ways to halt escalating West Bank violence, the Prime Minister’s Office said on Thursday.
It issued a statement on the matter after US Assistant Secretary of State Barbara Leaf who is visiting the region met with National Security Adviser Tzahi Hanegbi.
“The sides discussed ways to prevent security escalation in the area in the wake of the recent terrorist incidents, including by advancing meetings of the ‘Forum of Five’, which were held this year in Aqaba and Sharm El-Sheikh,” the statement said.
The unique forum includes representatives from Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, Jordan and the United States and has focused on ways to decrease Israeli-Palestinian tension.
It was first held in Jordan in February and in Egypt in March but has not been held since. Israel and the US have been at odds over understandings reached in those meetings on the advancement of plans for new settler homes. No new date has been set for a future meeting.
Palestinians mourners and armed men carry the body of Abdel Fattah Kharusheh during his funeral in the Askar refugee camp, near the West Bank city of Nablus on March 8, 2023. (credit: NASSER ISHTAYEH/FLASH90)Possible expansion of accords
The PMO said that “the sides also discussed efforts to expand the Abraham Accords,” under whose rubric Israel normalized ties with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan.
Israel and the US have been particularly focused on the possibility of normalizing ties between the Jewish state and Saudi Arabia.
In speaking with Hanegbi, “Leaf shared her impressions from her recent visit to Saudi Arabia and the administration’s willingness to advance the process.”
Saudi Arabia has sought Biden administration support for a civilian nuclear power program as one of its conditions for such a deal along with a defense guarantee.
As a small nod in the direction of normalized ties Israel had hoped to arrange direct flights to Saudi Arabia for the Muslim Hajj pilgrimage later this month, but this week it became clear that this would not happen.
Earlier this month Leaf said that “we see plenty of space to get things done even before normalization would be achieved” such as in education and sports.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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