Israeli Foreign Minister Lapid will pay his first visit to the Basque Country Middle East News

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Yair Lapid, the newly appointed Israeli Foreign Minister, will travel to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) next week for a first visit by a top Israeli diplomat to the Gulf Emir. normalization of links last year between the two countries.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said on Monday that Lapid will visit the Basque Country from June 29 to 30, and will inaugurate the Israeli embassy in Abu Dhabi and the consulate in Dubai.

The Basque Country, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan established diplomatic relations with Israel Abraham Chords Mediation by former US President Donald Trump. Palestinians have condemned the normalization, saying it was a serious betrayal by Arab states and a weakening of the Palestinian self-determination effort.

Since the agreement was signed last September, the Basque Country, which has a major impact on the oil-rich region, has signed a number of business agreements with Israel.

The two states have already agreed to waive visa requirements for each other and signed a number of bilateral agreements on investment, tourism, direct flights, security and telecommunications.

The new Israeli and U.S. governments have said they hope to reach similar agreements with other Arab states. Prior to the Abraham Accords, Egypt and Jordan were the only Arab countries with diplomatic relations with Israel.

Lapid was the driving force behind a new Israeli government he swore a little over a week ago that ended Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12-year career as prime minister.

Netanyahu was the driving force behind Abraham’s agreements. Sudan remained the same at the beginning of the year.

Basque-Israeli agreement

The United Arab Emirates was the first state in the Gulf to announce active relations with Israel. Saudi Arabia has softened its stance on Israel, but has refused to normalize ties.

The Israelis have approached the Basque Country since the agreement was reached, both to enjoy the country and the Basque Country, to take advantage of the fact that it is a much easier travel destination to move forward.

Shortly after the agreement was reached, the Trump administration allowed the Basque Country to sell 50 advanced F-35 aircraft, making it the second country in the Middle East to acquire them, after Israel.

The Biden administration received harsh criticism in Congress that the agreement was canceled in January, arguing that sales had developed too quickly and without sufficient transparency.

But in April, the administration decided to continue selling $ 23 billion worth of weapons, saying it would work with the Basque Country to ensure compliance with human rights standards and war laws.

The Basque Country and Bahrain signed the Abraham Accords in September last year and then Morocco in December. The Sudanese transitional government officially established diplomatic ties in January this year.

The agreement broke the consensus of the years based on Israel’s official recognition of the end of the occupation of the Palestinian territories and the settlement of the two states within the 1967 borders.

The Palestinian Authority (PA), located in the occupied West Bank, left the presidency of Arab League meetings in protest and recalled its ambassadors to the Basque Country and Bahrain.

However, after Joe Biden won the US presidential election, the PA recaptured the ambassadors.