“We have been working behind the scenes to get it ready,” he said.
Last week, ambassadors from Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates attended the unveiling of the Trump administration’s Middle East peace plan, often referred to as the “Deal of the Century.” Their attendance was seen as a warming of ties between Israel and the Arab world.
The remarks from the US official came in wake of the Palestinian decision to reject the administration’s peace plan. A few media reports indicated frustration among Arab countries from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ decision not to take a call from President Donald Trump just days before the White House ceremony.
However, the official noted that moving forward with normalization between Israel and Arab countries is not a step meant to replace the peace plan.
“It is a separate track that the team has been working on for a while. After we released the plan, we saw that the reaction in the Arab street is very moderate and that many of [the Arab leaders] were ready to do it,” the official continued. “When only Turkey and Iran said that they are against the plan, people [in the Arab world] realized that a line had been drawn.”
The official wouldn’t say when the first agreement would be reached. “We don’t like to set timelines, but there is a ton of momentum,” for o.
