Top officials from the United States, several Arab countries, and European nations met in Munich, Germany, this Friday. They gathered to talk about plans for Gaza after recent conflicts, aiming to improve relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. This meeting happened during the Munich Security Conference, an important yearly event where global security issues are discussed.
The meeting included U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, and other foreign ministers from countries like Jordan, Qatar, Germany, Britain, France, and Italy. It was the first time such a discussion took place since the conflict began on October 7, following an attack on Israel by Hamas, a Palestinian militant group.
The goal of the meeting was to share ideas on several key issues: rebuilding Gaza after the war, normalizing relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, including Israel more in regional activities, ensuring security, creating a plan for a Palestinian state, and making changes to the Palestinian Authority.
Western and Arab states have shown divisions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and their response has mostly been to try to ease the humanitarian situation in the enclave.
However, with the number of civilian casualties increasing, officials say there is a sense of urgency to at least put something together for when there is an extended ceasefire.
The United States has been leading discussions with its Arab allies. This is happening alongside efforts to free Israeli hostages taken by Hamas in a deadly attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,200 people. U.S. officials emphasize that securing the hostages' release and stopping the fighting, which has taken over 28,000 Palestinian lives, is crucial for moving forward with wider political talks.
"The Americans have been working with the Arabs so it's good to hear what they have to say," said a European diplomat whose foreign minister attended the meeting.
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