Egypt's Foreign Minister Lands in Israel for Negev Summit

On Sunday, Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry landed in Israel ahead of a landmark regional summit in the southern Negev Desert.

The foreign ministers of Bahrain, the UAE, Israeli and Morocco are set to attend the summit.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived later in the evening at Kibbutz Sde Boker for the summit after landing in Israel on Saturday night.

Throughout Sunday, Blinken held meetings with Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, President Isaac Herzog, Defense Minister Benny Gantz, and other senior Israeli officials, before travelling to Ramallah to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

The UAE’s Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Bahrain’s Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani, Morocco’s Nasser Bourita, and Egypt’s Shoukry all landed at the Nevatim Air Base in southern Israel.

From the airbase, the senior diplomats headed to the Isrotel Kedma Hotel in Sde Boker, where Lapid — who is hosting the two-day event — greeted them.

An official close to Lapid told journalists that the Israeli top diplomat and the Arab dignitaries were discussing “advancing a regional security architecture.”