Morocco announced on Friday that the second summit of the Negev Forum will not take place in the country this summer as planned.
The Moroccan Foreign Ministry said that the conference was cancelled due to “uncomfortable diplomatic relations”, according to Haaretz.
The Negev Forum includes Israel, the United States, Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates. It was initiated by then-Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, and the inaugural ministerial meeting was held in March of 2022 in Kibbutz Sde Boker.
Morocco”s decision to cancel the second meeting follows the recent security escalation in Judea and Samaria, and a series of pronouncements by Israel on new construction in the area.
The meeting was initially planned for March but faced multiple delays until it was eventually scheduled for the end of June. Following that, Morocco announced another postponement citing technical reasons, and today’s announcement raises the possibility that the meeting might not take place at all, as Morocco has not committed to setting a new date.

An Israeli source told Haaretz that the meeting’s occurrence would be influenced by the political and security landscape, with a particular emphasis on the Palestinian arena.
(Israel National News’ North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)