The Negev Summit was a summit that took place on 27–28 March 2022 in

Sde Boker Sde Boker () is a kibbutz in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Best known as the retirement home of Israel's first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, it falls under the jurisdiction of Ramat HaNegev Regional Council. In it had a population of . ...

, Israel, in which Israeli Foreign Minister

Yair Lapid Yair Lapid ( ; born 5 November 1963) is an Israeli politician of the centrist Yesh Atid party and a former journalist who has been the Leader of the Opposition (Israel), Leader of the Opposition since January 2023, having previously served in t ...

hosted the foreign ministers of

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

and the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

, as well as U.S. Secretary of State

Antony Blinken Antony John Blinken (born April 16, 1962) is an American lawyer and diplomat who served as the 71st United States secretary of state from 2021 to 2025. He previously served as Deputy National Security Advisor, deputy national security advisor ...

. The four Arab countries present at the conference were represented by their Foreign Ministers:

Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, AbZ (; born 30 April 1972) is an Emirati politician appointed as the foreign minister in 2006, and additionally one of four deputy prime ministers of the United Arab Emirates in 2009. He is the ninth so ...

, Foreign Minister of the United Arab Emirates;

Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani Abdul Latif () is a Muslim male given name and, in modern usage, surname. It is built from the Arabic words '' ʻabd'' and ''al-Laṭīf'', one of the names of God in the Qur'an, which gave rise to the Muslim theophoric names. It means "servant of ...

, from Bahrain; Nasser Bourita, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Morocco; Sameh Shoukry, Foreign Minister from Egypt. On March 28, 2022, it was announced that the conference was to become an annual forum, to be called the .

History

The meeting was organized by Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and its primary purpose was to establish an international alliance against the

nuclear program of Iran The nuclear program of Iran is one of the most scrutinized nuclear programs in the world. The military capabilities of the program are possible through its mass enrichment activities in facilities such as Natanz and Arak. In June 2025, t ...

. Initially, the idea was to bring together as many countries as possible from the Abrahamic Accords, in order to strengthen and deepen ties. This is a few days after the Prime Minister of Israel,

Naftali Bennett Naftali Bennett (, ; born 25 March 1972) is an Israeli politician and businessman who served as the prime minister of Israel from 13 June 2021 to 30 June 2022, and as the alternate prime minister from 1 July to 8 November 2022. Bennett was t ...

, also visited Egypt. The Jordanian foreign minister was also invited to join the conference, but he held a series of meetings in Kuwait at the time.

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

and the

Palestinian Authority The Palestinian Authority (PA), officially known as the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), is the Fatah-controlled government body that exercises partial civil control over the Palestinian enclaves in the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, ...

have declined to join the talks.Tovah Lazaroff. (11 January 2023). "Negev Forum not a substitute for Israeli-Palestinian peace, US says"
Jerusalem Post website
Retrieved 13 September 2023.

Summit

The foreign ministers of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

and the

, and the

United States Secretary of State The United States secretary of state (SecState) is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The secretary of state serves as the principal advisor to the ...

, met at

in the

Negev The Negev ( ; ) or Naqab (), is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its southern end is the Gulf of Aqaba and the resort town, resort city ...

, and decided to hold regular meetings about regional security and commit to further expanding economic and diplomatic cooperation. The six foreign ministers who participated in the summit decided to set up a number of joint working groups. The first to discuss national security and the war on terror and other working groups will be education, health, energy, tourism, food and water. In addition, the six foreign ministers agreed that each annual (or semi-annual) meeting would convene in a different desert city, to symbolize the issue common to all relevant countries: the need to improve water supply, desert tourism, book settlement localization and food security concerns. Topics raised included wheat prices, the Western Sahara question, piracy in the Red Sea, and dealing with launching UAVs and long-range missiles, in addition raising opposition to the JCPOA nuclear deal with Iran and resisting its proxies. United States Secretary of State

said that the meeting "could expand the potential for peace and conflict resolution across the region." He also said that he supported a two-state solution for Palestine and criticized the construction of Israeli settlements on disputed territory as well as Palestinian payments to the families of terrorists. Arab government attendees also said that Israel "must make progress on implementing a two-state solution for the Palestinians with East Jerusalem as its capital." During the summit, an attack took place in

Hadera Hadera (, ) is a city located in the Haifa District of Israel, in the northern Sharon plain, Sharon region, approximately 45 kilometers (28 miles) from the major cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa. The city is located along 7 km (5 mi) of ...

in which two police officers were shot by a pair of Israeli Arabs who had sworn allegiance to

ISIS Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

. All summit participants unanimously condemned the attack.

References

{{United Arab Emirates–United States relations 2022 in international relations March 2022 in Israel Conferences in Israel Arab–Israeli alliance against Iran Abraham Accords Naftali Bennett

Summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for ...

Bahrain–Egypt relations Bahrain–Israel relations Bahrain–Morocco relations Bahrain–United Arab Emirates relations Bahrain–United States relations Egypt–Israel relations Egypt–Morocco relations Egypt–United Arab Emirates relations Egypt–United States relations Israel–Morocco relations Israel–United Arab Emirates relations Israel–United States relations Morocco–United Arab Emirates relations Morocco–United States relations United Arab Emirates–United States relations Yair Lapid