Pompeo and Kushner program to make separate visits in the Middle East
This week, the administration of Trump will send two superior officials to the Middle East in an attempt to capitalize on the momentum from the historic deal between Israeli and the United Arab Emirates to establish diplomatic relations.
Three diplomats reported that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and President Donald Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner program in the coming days to make separate visits to the region to promote the Arab-Israeli rapprochement after the Israel-UAE agreement.
It’s expected that Pompeo departs on Sunday for Israel, Bahrain, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Sudan, according to the diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity as the itinerary has not yet been ended or openly announced. Whereas, Kushner program to leave later in the week for Israel, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Morocco, in what the diplomats reported.
The diplomats also said that neither trip is expected to result in announcements of immediate breakthrough, although both are aimed at finalizing at least one, and potentially more, normalization deals with Israel in the near future.
Meeting with Taliban
Furthermore, the diplomats declared that Pompeo programs to meet with members of the Taliban in Qatar to research the intra-Afghan peace discussions that are important to the retreat of remaining US forces in Afghanistan. However, The White House and State Department didn’t comment on the planned trips that will come in the time that the administration steps up efforts to make pressure for Arab-Israeli normalization even without a resolution to the Israel-Palestinian dispute. They also come as the administration has made the important step about the restoration of all international sanctions on Iran, and that was publicly supported by Israel and the Gulf Arab nations.
On August 13, Israel and the United Arab Emirates declared that they would set up full diplomatic ties, in a US-negotiated agreement that required Israel to stop its contentious plan to annex occupied West Bank land solicited by the Palestinians.
This historic deal gave a key foreign policy victory to Trump as he wants reelection and also reflected the changing Middle East in which shared concerns about archenemy Iran have largely overtaken traditional Arab support for the Palestinians. US and Israeli officials have proposed that more Arab nations can soon follow the lead of the UAE, with Bahrain and Oman considered to be closest to establishing like this deal.
