Analysis: Saudia Waiting For Biden Administration Before Normalization With Israel

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JERUSALEM (VINnews) — While Prime Minister Netanyahu and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had hoped to achieve a Saudi agreement for normalization with Israel during last week’s secret meeting, Saudi crown prince Mohammed Ben Salman had other ideas. The results of the American election and the need for the Saudis to maintain good relations with the incoming administration have led them to exercise caution in their diplomatic efforts, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

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The Americans had hoped to use the momentum from the Abraham accords to remove the toughest stumbling block from achieving Israel’s full integration in the region by including Saudia in the growing anti-Iran coalition in the Middle East.

However senior Saudi and American officials say that Bin Salman prefers to wait with the dramatic step and use such an agreement in the future to cement his relations with the Biden administration. Biden has in the passed expressed his support for rehabilitating the Iranian nuclear treaty, a move which Israel, Saudia and other gulf states are strongly opposed to.

It is also possible that the Saudis hope with the assistance of the Biden administration to push Israel into concessions with the Palestinians in return for normalization, as in the past they have stressed the importance of progress with the Palestinians as a condition for regional normalization.

However Saudi officials mentioned another possible reason for Bin Salman’s caution, since although he favors normalization with Israel, his father, 84-year-old King Salman, opposes such relations. The Wall Street Journal reported that Bin Salman did not reveal to his father the agreement between Israel and the Emirates even though he knew about it beforehand as he was concerned that his father would try to stall the process.


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HeshyEmes
HeshyEmes
3 years ago

Unfortunately, על פי דרך הטבע, Biden’s handlers will torpedo the normalization progress that Jared Kushner achieved. It’s only with בטחון that ״לב מלכים ושרים ביד ה׳י״ does Israel have a path with a Biden Administration.

Educated Archy
Educated Archy
3 years ago

Sounds like Biden is an obstical to peace . We also owe a huge thanks for president Trump for getting this started . This uae peace deal is historical . It’s a shame Trump won’t have more time to complete his work and legacy of peace making .

PaulinSaudi
PaulinSaudi
3 years ago

I would guess we will have to wait until King Salman is gone.