The Central Asian country, which established formal relations with Israel in 1992, said it was a “natural thing” to join the agreement.
More than 33 years after establishing formal diplomatic relations with Israel, Kazakhstan announced it would join the so-called Abraham Accords, which formalized relations between Israel and several Arab countries.
The announcement was made on Thursday ahead of a meeting between US President Donald Trump and the leaders of Central Asian countries.
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“Our anticipated accession to the Abraham Accords represents a natural and logical continuation of Kazakhstan’s foreign policy based on dialogue, mutual respect and regional stability,” the Kazakh government said in a statement, according to AFP news agency.
Earlier, the US special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, announced that another country would join the normalization deal without naming it.
“The Abraham Accords are a big thing. Tonight, another country is going to announce that they’re joining the Abraham Accords, so I’m going back to Washington tonight,” Witkoff said.
It is not clear how joining the agreement will affect the already established relationship between Kazakhstan and Israel. The two countries established diplomatic relations in 1992, shortly after Kazakhstan gained independence from the Soviet Union.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Kazakhstan in 2016, and the two countries have signed several bilateral agreements.
The announcement comes at a time when President Trump is promoting himself as a peacemaker after brokering a delicate ceasefire in Gaza, despite daily deadly Israeli violence against Palestinians and escalating Israeli attacks in Lebanon.
Kazakhstan appears to be deepening its ties with the United States following President Kasym-Jomart Tokayev’s visit to Washington. On Thursday, the two countries signed a cooperation agreement over critical minerals.
During his first term, President Trump brokered the Abraham Accords, a series of agreements formalizing Israel’s relations with Arab countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco.
This push shattered the agreement of Arab states on the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which made the establishment of a viable Palestinian state a condition of Israeli recognition.
Prime Minister Netanyahu flatly rejected that “land for peace” framework and instead pushed for deals with Arab states that bypass the Palestinians.
Former President Joe Biden, who succeeded President Trump, made expanding the agreement a priority from an early stage in his approach to the Middle East.
But the deal, brokered between countries that have never been at war, did little to resolve the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians or the decades-long occupation that major rights groups say amounts to apartheid.
Still, the normalization deal withstood Israel’s two-year war in Gaza, in which it flattened much of the territory and killed more than 68,800 Palestinians.
The UAE and other countries participating in the agreement maintain trade and security ties with Israel.
In recent months, President Trump has repeatedly said he expects Saudi Arabia to join the deal. But Saudi officials have emphasized their commitment to the Arab Peace Initiative.
