“There is a need for a new regional order where Israel is a stakeholder and no longer an outsider in its own region,” Bourita said at the event hosted by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
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“This new regional order should not be perceived as against someone but rather to benefit us all,” he said.
“Also, this new regional order should be based [not only] on an updated joint assessment of threats but also how to generate opportunities that favor stability and development for all.”
The event with US, Israeli, Moroccan, Bahraini and Emirati officials was held two days after the actual September 15, 2020 anniversary date of the White House ceremony that launched the Abraham Accords and allowed Arab states to normalize ties with Israel. Prior to the accords, Israel had normal ties only with Egypt, with whom it signed a peace treaty in 1979, and Jordan, with whom an agreement was reached in 1994.
Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump and United Arab Emirates (UAE) Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed participate in the signing of the Abraham Accords, normalizing relations between Israel and some of its Middle Eas (credit: REUTERS/TOM BRENNER)
The ceremony was hosted by then US President Donald Trump, who brokered the accords that also led to normalization agreements with Morocco and Sudan under his watch.
“This administration will continue to build on the successful efforts of the last administration to keep normalization marching forward,” Blinken said at the first anniversary event on Friday.
The Biden administration will help foster Israel’s growing ties with the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco – and would work to deepen Israel’s relationships with Egypt and Jordan, Blinken promised.
It will also push for additional countries to join the accords, he said.
“We want to widen the circle of peaceful diplomacy.”
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid agreed, saying: “This Abraham Accords club is open to new members as well.”
Bourita said that it was important to actively promote and publicize the benefits of the accords by way of underscoring to the region the positive benefits that can be brought about by ties with Israel.
Joint partnerships have already been launched in his country, including in tourism, he said.
But he cautioned that relaunching the Israeli-Palestinian peace process was also a critical element for the promotion of Israeli ties with the Arab world.
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said that “These unprecedented agreements are a new chapter in the history of peace in the Middle East.”
He thanked Emirati and Bahraini leaders for the “courage and the daring that enabled the establishment of diplomatic relations, and the American administration which tirelessly led, supported and mediated the success of this achievement.”
Bennett said that, “relations between the countries are only at their beginning and are already bearing many fruits.
“The Government of Israel under my leadership will continue to implement the agreements while striving for a stable, secure and prosperous Middle East for the future of our children,” Bennett said.
Blinken’s event took place 43-year after former prime minister Menachem Begin and former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat signed the Camp David Accords in 1978, under the auspices of then US President Jimmy Carter. It was the preliminary document of what would become the 1979 Israeli-Egyptian peace deal.
President Isaac Herzog on Friday phoned Carter to thank him for brokering what was the world’s first Arab-Israeli peace deal.
He said this groundbreaking step saved lived in the Middle East and paved the way for the deal with Jordan and the Abraham Accords.
“You did something really holy: This was the first peace agreement between Israel and an Arab state, which led all the way to the agreements we had last year with the Gulf states,” Herzog said.
He also congratulated Carter ahead of his upcoming 97th birthday on October 1.
Reuters contributed to this report.