In another week when the world was rightly focused on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, an unprecedented Middle Eastern summit attracted far less attention than it would have otherwise have done. Israel’s foreign minister Yair Lapid, joined his colleagues from the US, Egypt, Morocco, the UAE and Bahrain at Sde Boker in the Negev desert.

 And it was not only the summit that was downplayed in global media coverage: both before and after it 11 people in Israel were killed in terrorist attacks, the worst toll in six years, underlining the importance of a mutually acceptable solution to the world’s most toxic and divisive conflict.

 And three Palestinians who belonged to Islamic Jihad also died in subsequent military operations in Jenin. The assessment of the Israeli security establishment is that the country is just at the beginning of a wave of terror. 

 The Negev meeting was especially significant because it included all the signatories of the Abraham Accords (except Sudan) all of which are dependent on Washington’s goodwill and are generally opposed to the renewal of the Iranian nuclear deal of 2015 abandoned by Donald Trump under pressure from the then Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

 The location of the summit was symbolic too in terms of Arab recognition of the legitimacy of the Jewish state: Kibbutz Sde Boker was where Israel’s founder and first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, lived when he stepped down in 1963 – a fact which all the participants must have been aware of. BG - as he is widely known - is also buried there.

  It was the first occasion that the Arab signatories of the accords had met in Israel. The timing also generated criticism from the Palestinians. It took place on the eve of Land Day, on March 30, which commemorates the Palestinian response to Israel’s expropriation of thousands of acres of land in 1976. Israel is currently isolating unrecognized Bedouin communities in the Negev.

 These talks took place just a week after Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi hosted Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and the UAE’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan for a friendly and well-publicized summit in Sharm al-Sheikh. Efforts were made to add Jordan’s foreign minister to the list of invitees of both summits— in vain, as it turned out.

 Attention focused on the Sde Boker summit discussions dealing with the looming renewed nuclear deal with Iran, as the US wanted to reassure its regional allies that it is fully aware of their concerns. They wanted to be present together with US secretary of state Anthony Blinken to convince Washington that they are prepared act in unison.

 Israel is already working with the UAE, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia (albeit behind closed doors in intelligence, missile defence etc) against Iran and the Yemeni Houthi rebels who are backed by Tehran, along with Lebanon’s Hizbullah and Iraqi Shia militants.

 “The Negev Summit signals that these new partners are now working together more closely than ever, simply because they have to — in part because they know that the US now has other preoccupations and priorities, and fear that it underestimates the dangers posed by Iran,” wrote one Israeli journalist.

 With Washington understandably focused on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its long-term strategic implication, it makes sense for Israel and its newish Arab allies to concentrate on regional priorities. But the recent spate of terrorist incidents are a stark but vivid reminder that the conflict with the Palestinians is not going to disappear any time soon.

 This year’s combination of Ramadan, Passover and Easter has raised tensions on both sides of the pre-1967 Green Line. They have also been escalating because of the recent spate of terrorist incidents. The perpetrator of the first attack in Beersheba was a Negev Bedouin (an Israeli citizen) and two other Arab Israelis – both from Umm al-Fahm - in the second case in Hadera.

 Those involved in the first two attacks were affiliated with ISIS (Daesh) and had served time in prison for trying to join the caliphate in Syria. They framed their actions in the wider context of the jihad to cleanse the Middle East of its Christian and Jewish invaders.

 The terrorist who killed five people in the ultra-Orthodox town near Tel Aviv called Bnei Brak was a Palestinian from the West Bank who was not affiliated with any organization and had allegedly been motivated to carry out his attack because of the recent death of a friend of his in clashes with the Israeli army.

 All these attacks sparked a frenzy of stories in Israeli media about the assumption that ISIS had become a serious threat to national security. It is unlikely to turn out like that. All the evidence is that all four terrorists were “lone-wolves” and that Hamas and Islamic Jihad, based in the Gaza Strip, are still far more dangerous.

  It is important to point out that with diplomatic relations and shared interests strengthening across the Middle East between Israel and its Arab partners, the 54-year-long occupation of the West Bank remains as deeply entrenched as ever. Both the region and the wider world need to be reminded of that in these unpredictable and uncertain times.
 

BY: IAN BLACK