ISRAELI FOREIGN POLICY IN LIGHT OF DRAMATIC CHANGES IN THE REGION: DIPLOMATIC SUCCESS AND CHALLENGES AHEAD

The dramatic developments in the Middle East in the last decade have improved and strengthened Israel's position in the region. The implications of the Arab Spring, the discoveries of natural gas in the deep waters of the East Med, and specifically within the Israeli EEZ, initiated a regional process where Israel is playing a central, substantial and constructive role. It was manifested with the impressive regional architecture in the East Med (and in particular the establishment of the EMGF) and the Abraham Accords. Those developments strengthened Israel's room of maneuver and its self-confidence. At this strategic junction, a substantial and extremely important challenges are ahead of Israel's Foreign policy: Expanding the regional cooperation in the East Med to include more relevant players if possible; Deepening the cooperation with the Abraham Accords countries and using this model for wider cooperation in the region; and last but not least, initiating a political and realistic process with the Palestinians in order to revive the Two State Vision.