US will continue to encourage normalisation with Israel: Blinken

Speaking at a virtual event on Friday celebrating the first anniversary of the normalisation agreement between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain – which later included Morocco, Sudan and Kosovo – Blinken outlined steps Washington will take to strengthen the accord, Al Jazeera reported.

The plan did not include pushing to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“First, we’ll help foster Israel’s growing ties with Bahrain, with Morocco, with the United Arab Emirates, as well as with Sudan, which has also signed the Abraham Accords, and Kosovo, which established ties with Israel at the beginning of the year,” Blinken said.

He added that the US administration will “deepen Israel’s long-standing relationships” with Egypt and Jordan, which normalised ties with Israel in 1979 and 1994 respectively.
 

Blinken cited Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s recent visit to Cairo – the first official trip by an Israeli head of state to Egypt in 10 years.
 

“Third, we will encourage more countries to follow the lead of the Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco,” Blinken said.

“We want to widen the circle of peaceful diplomacy because it’s in the interests of countries across the region and around the world for Israel to be treated like any other country.”

The normalisation agreements have irked Palestinian leaders, who called the deals last year a “stab in the back” to the Palestinian cause.

But Blinken suggested on Friday that normalisation could benefit Palestinians.