JERUSALEM – Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid on Monday called the Palestinians and other Arab nations to forge peace agreements with Israel.
Lapid called more Arab countries to join the U.S.-brokered deals signed in September 2020, in which the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain agreed to normalize ties with Israel. Morocco, Sudan and Oman later signed similar deals.
“I’m calling the Palestinians and the citizens of any Arab nation — we come in peace,” Lapid said, adding that more normalization deals would “bring prosperity, jobs, a culture of progress and success” to the peoples of the Middle East.
The remarks were made during an inaugural meeting of a Knesset (parliament) panel dedicated to the promotion of the deals. The panel is aimed at strengthening economic and tourism ties with Israel’s newly allied Arab states, according to a statement issued by the panel.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz said that Israel has been working to sign normalization deals with additional Arab countries.
Speaker of the Knesset Mickey Levy said during the ceremony that “historic” new inter-parliamentary friendship groups have been recently established between Israel, the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco. “Our goal as lawmakers is to ensure that peace will endure not only among our governments but also among peoples,” Levy said.