The Economist April 2nd 2022 43
Middle East & AfricaIsraelandtheArabsThe shifting sands of diplomacy
D
avid ben-gurion never much be-
lieved in the prospect of peace with Ar-
abs. When Israel’s first prime minister died
in 1973, after years of retirement in Sde
Boker, a sleepy kibbutz deep in the Negev
desert, his country had just emerged from
another war with its angry Arab neigh-
bours. None recognised Israel’s existence.
No doubt he would have been shocked by
the scene half a century later: a few miles
from his tomb, the foreign ministers of
four Arab states—Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco
and the United Arab Emirates (uae)—met
their Israeli and American counterparts at
a hotel in Sde Boker on March 27th, clasped
hands amid smiles (pictured above), then
tucked into kebabs together.
It was the second notable Middle East-
ern gathering in a week, after a meeting in
Sharm al-Sheikh between the leaders of
Egypt, Israel and the uae. Save Egypt, none
of the Arab participants had formal rela-
tions with Israel until 2020. That they met,
warmly and openly, showed how low the
Palestinian cause has fallen on the agenda
of Arab governments (if not their citizens).For Israel, it was another impressive step,
albeit symbolic, towards its widening ac-
ceptance as a normal regional power.
The twin summits were part of a broad-
er flurry of diplomacy, some of it rooted in
a feeling that America is no longer a reli-
able partner. The meeting in Sharm al-
Sheikh showed that America’s partners can
co-ordinate their own positions; the gath-
ering in Israel was a chance to share those
concerns with Antony Blinken, America’s
secretary of state. It says much about the
troubled state of America’s regional rela-
tions that Mr Blinken flew out to Israel for
three days as war was raging in Ukraine.
Chief among those concerns is Iran.
Gulf countries grumble that America hasnot protected them from Iranian-made
rockets and drones. Since January these
have hit oil installations in Saudi Arabia
and killed civilians in the uae. Israel and
the Gulf leaders think America is close to
rejoining the nuclear deal struck in 2015
with Iran, which Donald Trump ditched in- They fear it may only briefly delay
Iran’s nuclear plans and give it an econom-
ic windfall to spend on regional mischief.
Rob Malley, the lead American negotia-
tor, is more guarded about prospects for a
deal. “You could be close, you could be
close for a very long time, and you could
never get there,” he says. Still, one Israeli
diplomat says, the Negev summit was
meant “to ensure that, whether the Ameri-
cans and the Iranians sign a deal or it all
blows up, we will still have a joint strategy
with the administration on how to deal
with Iran the day after”.
For his part, Mr Blinken used the sum-
mit to prod his fellow ministers to boost oil
output and join sanctions on Russia. They
have little incentive to do either. Israel
does not want to jeopardise its military co-
operation with Russia in Syria, where it
carries out air strikes against Iran and its
proxies. The uae, the world’s seventh-big-
gest oil producer, is a member of the so-
called opec+agreement, in which Russia is
a key player. The uae’s energy minister
said this week he would refuse to do
“something unilateral” to increase output.
So neither side got what it wanted in the
Negev. There were no firm promises. But
D UBAI, ISTANBUL AND JERUSALEM
An unprecedented summit sends a message to America and Iran→Alsointhissection
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