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Israel hosting historic six-way US-Arab meeting


Foreign ministers from four Arab League countries, along with the US secretary of state, are holding an historic meeting in Israel.

It is the first time the ministers from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Morocco and Bahrain will meet their Israeli counterpart in his home country.

It comes after they normalised relations with Israel for the first time during the past year-and-a-half.

The foreign minister of Egypt is also joining the talks.


Egypt was the first Arab country to make peace with Israel, in 1979, though relations between them have often been cool.

The six top diplomats arrived on Sunday at a hotel in Sde Boker in the Negev desert in southern Israel and will hold talks on Monday.

As they gathered, two Israeli Arab gunmen launched an attack in the northern Israeli city of Hadera, killing two policemen and wounding six people. The gunmen were shot dead by counter-terrorism officers. The Islamic State group said it carried out the shooting.


"All the foreign ministers condemned the attack, sent their condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the wounded," said Israeli foreign minister Yair Lapid.


The summit in the Negev coincides with a tour of the region by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.


He is visiting Israel, the West Bank, Morocco and Algeria on a five-day trip for talks on issues including Russia's war on Ukraine, tensions with Iran and the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

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