Saudi Arabia has opted to normalize its relations with Israel, according to a foreign diplomat familiar with the situation. However, the kingdom is deliberating whether to enact this decision in the weeks ahead, or postpone it until after the United States presidential elections in November.
Saudi Arabia has decided to normalize relations with Israel, but is contemplating whether to implement the move in the upcoming weeks or following the United States presidential election in November, according to a foreign diplomat familiar with the matter, quoted by AFP.
Saudi Arabia is set to demand guarantees that will ensure progress on the recognition of a Palestinian state in return.
According to the diplomat, “Saudi Arabia has decided to go for an agreement with Israel. It’s a principled strategic move, as part of the rapprochement with the US, and Saudi Arabia is interested in realizing it.”
“The question is when, and the decision on the timing should be made within days. The debate in the Saudi government is whether to hand this ‘candy’ to President [Joe] Biden, who may not be reelected, or wait for the next president, assuming Biden will lose,” the diplomat said.
Rewards for normalization
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday, that the US is nearly ready with a security package to offer Saudi Arabia if it normalizes relations with Israel, as he seeks incentives for Israel to support a Palestinian state.
Blinken was visiting the kingdom on his seventh trip to the region since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, which has responded with a relentless offensive in Gaza that has drawn global criticism.
President Joe Biden’s administration, while supporting Israel, has sought moderation from its government by dangling the prospect of formal relations with Saudi Arabia – a potential game-changer because the Gulf state is the guardian of Islam’s two holiest sites.
“The work that Saudi Arabia and the United States have been doing together in terms of our own agreements, I think, is potentially very close to completion,” Blinken said.
“But then in order to move forward with normalization, two things will be required – calm in Gaza and a credible pathway to a Palestinian state,” he told a meeting of the World Economic Forum in Riyadh.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, who met Blinken in Riyadh, also said that US-Saudi agreements were “very, very close.”
“Most of the work has already been done,” he said.
But he added that a pathway to a Palestinian state was “the only way it’s going to work.”
Even if the Biden administration reaches an agreement with Saudi Arabia, it would still need to be approved by Congress, where lawmakers, especially from Biden’s Democratic Party, have been critical of the kingdom on human rights grounds.
Particularly controversial have been Riyadh’s calls for civilian nuclear cooperation with Washington, with critics warning of a potential arms race with Iran.
With AFP
