The United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Oman and Bahrain met with Victoria Coates, deputy national security adviser for Middle East and North Africa.
By JNS
The United States has requested several Arab nations to achieve non-belligerence agreements with Israel, reported Axios, citing U.S., Israeli and Arab sources.
This is part of an effort by the United States to normalize relations between the Jewish state and the Gulf states, which have made efforts of its own to do the same.
Ambassadors of the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Oman and Bahrain met last week with Victoria Coates, deputy national security adviser for Middle East and North Africa, according to the report. None of these states have formal diplomatic relations with Israel.
On Monday and Tuesday, “a U.S. interagency team led by Coates met at the White House with an Israeli delegation led by the Israeli Foreign Ministry. The discussions focused on the initiative for non-belligerence agreements,” according to the report.
A senior Trump administration official declined to comment to Axios on the reported private meetings, but said that said the United States “would certainly welcome expanding relationships between our critical allies and partners in the Middle East.”