More peace deals may still be in the works before Trump’s term ends, senior official says

“The declaration of Morocco has increased the interest on the part of some countries,” the official said.

By David Isaac, World Israel News 

A senior Trump administration official said that there still may be more deals in the works between Israel and Muslim countries, reports Israel’s Kan public broadcaster on Tuesday.

The official said the U.S. is in contact with several countries and there was a chance for another breakthrough before the end of Trump’s term on Jan. 20. “The declaration of Morocco has increased the interest on the part of some countries,” the official said, according to the Kan news report.

The official made his comments prior to the flight of the U.S.-Israeli delegation to Morocco, which departed on Tuesday. The U.S. delegation is led by Senior Trump Advisor Jared Kushner. The Israeli one is led by Meir Ben-Shabbat, Israel’s national security advisor.

He also said he expects Morocco to join an investment fund created by Israel, the U.S. and the UAE for investing in projects in the Middle East.

“There are several countries in the region that have approached us for projects,” he said. He added that the Democrats have signaled that the incoming Biden administration will continue to advance these business developments.

In October, prior to the announcement of the Morocco deal, President Donald Trump told reporters that as many as 10 countries may make peace with Israel.

“We have five, but really have probably nine or 10 that are right in the mix, we’re going to have a lot, I think we’ll have all of them eventually,” he said.

“The beauty is there’s peace in the Middle East with no money and no blood,” he said.

The Trump administration credits its success to its new approach in making peace. It ignored decades-old assumptions that the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians needed to be solved before Israel could hope to make peace with Arab countries.

The outdated position was enunciated forcefully by former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who said in 2016 that there would be “no separate peace between Israel and the Arab world” without resolving the Palestinian issue.

However, he was proven wrong by current events. Israel now has deals with four Arab countries.

Kushner said on Monday in a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “By doing things differently, we created new opportunities and then we seized those opportunities when they presented themselves.”