Giving an interview to the Israeli newspaper, Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen stated that he is expecting three Arab countries as well as an African country to ink a normalization agreement with Israel. According to his statement, the countries close to signing peace deals with Israel are Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, and Niger. Cohen emphasized that the newly-elected president in Niger is pro-American and this situation increases the possibility of establishing relations with Israel.
A similar statement came from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the early hours of Wednesday. Speaking to Israeli Army Radio, Netanyahu stated that four more countries might sign normalization agreements with Israel soon. However, he did not mention any name regarding these countries.
On March 14, adviser, and special envoy to the Middle East of former US President Donald Trump, Jared Kushner, wrote an article for Wall Street Journal. In this article, he stated that Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, and Mauritania are the countries close to sign normalization agreements with Israel. Kushner also claimed that Israel is not an enemy anymore in the eyes of the Saudi people. In his opinion, the Arab-Israeli conflict is close to an end.
Last September, Israel and Gulf countries, namely the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, agreed to establish formal relations through the US-backed agreement, also known as Abraham Accords. The move, then, was followed by Sudan and Morocco. Last week, there had been speculations that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman may hold talks while the former’s visit to the UAE, which was canceled at the last minute.
