WASHINGTON (AP) – Trump’s leadership is sending two high-ranking officials to the Middle East this week in a bid to harness the momentum of the historic Israel-UAE deal to identify diplomatic ties.
Three diplomats say Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and President Donald Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner plan to make separate visits to countries in the region in the coming days to further the Arab-Israeli rapprochement to follow Israel. -Offer UAE.
Pompeo is expected to depart on Sunday for Israel, Bahrain, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Sudan, according to diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity as the address has yet to be finalized or publicly announced. Kushner plans to depart later this week for Israel, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Morocco, diplomats said.
None of the trips are expected to result in rapid-progress announcements, diplomats said, with either the goal of finalizing at least one, and potentially more, normalization agreements with Israel in the near future.
Pompeo also plans to meet with Talban members in Qatar to discuss the peace talks within Afghanistan that are critical to the withdrawal of remaining US forces in Afghanistan, diplomats said.
The White House and the State Department have commented on the planned trips, which will come as the leadership intensifies its efforts to push for Arab-Israeli normalization, even without a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
They also come as the leadership made the questionable resolution to bring about the reinstatement of all foreign sanctions that oppose Iran, anything that Israel and the Arab Gulf countries have publicly supported.
Israel and the UAE announced on August 13 that they would identify full diplomatic relations, as a component of a deal negotiated through the United States that required Israel to end its controversial plan to annex occupied West Bank lands sought through the Palestinians.
The landmark deal presented a key foreign policy victory for Trump as he sought re-election and reflected a converting Middle East in which shared considerations of Iran’s nemesis far exceeded the Arab classic for Palestinians.
US and Israeli officials have warned that more Arab countries are likely to soon take the lead from the United Arab Emirates, with Bahrain and Oman reportedly closer to sealing such deals.