These countries are on the “normalization” agenda



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An Israeli minister said today, Monday, that “Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Morocco are among the countries that are scheduled to establish relations with Israel in the framework of a regional rapprochement launched by US President Donald Trump.”

“Saudi Arabia, the Sultanate of Oman, Qatar, Morocco and Niger are on the agenda,” said Israeli Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen.

“These are the five countries, if Trump’s policy continues, we can reach additional agreements,” he told Ynet TV.

Saudi Arabia implicitly accepted the UAE and Bahrain’s deal with Israel, but fell short of declaring support and hinted at its unwillingness to take that step.

In 2002, Riyadh presented a peace plan between the Arabs and Israel calling for an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories to clear the way for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Qatar, which has relations with Iran and the Hamas movement that runs the Gaza Strip, ruled out normalization before the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Contrary to the Israeli reserve when commenting on the US elections that will take place tomorrow Tuesday, the Israeli intelligence minister considered that “concluding more normalization agreements will depend on the extent of the” determination “of the next US president to confront Iran.

Democratic candidate Joe Biden wants to return to the nuclear deal with Iran signed in 2015, from which Republican President Donald Trump withdrew and his move was well received by Israel and some Arab Gulf states.

Trump focused on his Middle East policy during the election campaign, and in response to a question last week about countries that could follow the lead of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan, Trump said: “We have five confirmed countries.”

Although he did not explicitly state a preference for one US presidential candidate over another, Cohen said that “Trump’s policy has pushed Arab and Islamic countries into rapprochement with Israel.”

Cohen said the next president “if he does not show determination in confronting Iran, they will take their time and will not be in a hurry and will not choose one side without the other,” noting that “the policy of concessions will impede the peace accords.”

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