(AFP): US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will visit Israel on Monday and the United Arab Emirates a day later to discuss the countries’ normalisation deal and pushing other Arab states to follow suit, sources reported.
According to the US State Department, after meeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he is set to visit senior figures in Sudan, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
During his visit, Pompeo will discuss regional security issues related to Iran´s malicious influence (and) establishing and deepening Israel´s relationships in the region,” the State Department said in a statement.
White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, is expected to travel to Israel and the UAE in early September, and may stop in other countries as well, an administration official said.
Earlier this month, Israel and the UAE announced that they would normalise diplomatic ties and forge a broad new relationship. Israel had previously only signed peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan,
Under the accord, which US President Donald Trump helped broker, Israel agreed to suspend its planned annexation of areas of the occupied West Bank.
The new partners say they want to promote trade, especially the sale of Emirati oil to Israel and Israeli technology to the Emirates, as well as boosting tourism by establishing direct air links.
The partnership also gave the Jewish state a green light to annex parts of the West Bank — something Israel committed to suspending under the UAE deal. The Palestinians have slammed the UAE’s move as a stab in the back while their own conflict with the Jewish state remains unresolved.
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