Do signs point to an Israel-Saudi normalisation deal?

Do signs point to an Israel-Saudi normalisation deal?

Web Desk
June 26, 2022

Do signs point to an Israel-Saudi normalisation deal?

Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has said Israel was a “potential ally.”
Saudi Arabia never showed any opposition when its regional ally, the United Arab Emirates, established diplomatic ties with Israel in 2020.
Analysts say it is improbable Riyadh will agree to normalize relations with Israel during Biden’s visit or while King Salman still reigns.

The US has hinted that more Arab nations may take steps to strengthen ties with Israel, In advance of President Joe Biden’s trip to the Middle East,

All eyes are on Saudi Arabia, which Biden will visit in mid-July after pledging to treat it as a “pariah” state following the murder and dismemberment of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

However, despite the recent signs of a US-Saudi rapprochement, analysts say it is improbable Riyadh will agree to diplomatic ties with Israel — not during Biden’s visit or while King Salman, 86, still reigns.

The king’s official policy is that there should be no peace with Israel until it withdraws from occupied territories and accepts Palestinian statehood.

Biden’s visit will likely focus on convincing the world’s biggest crude exporter to boost its oil output.

Here are some questions and answers about the possibility of a normalization deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel:

Saudi’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has said Israel was a “potential ally, with many interests that we can pursue together”, state media reported in March, attributing the statement to an interview with The Atlantic.

Additionally, the kingdom never showed any opposition when its regional ally, the United Arab Emirates, established diplomatic ties with Israel in 2020, followed by Bahrain and Morocco under the US-brokered Abraham Accords.

In January 2021, Sudan’s transitional government also agreed to do so but the northeast African country has yet to finalize the deal.

Saudi Arabia also at the time allowed direct flights from the Emirates to Israel to travel through its airspace, in another implicit sign of approval.

Biden, who will also visit Israel, is to travel directly from the Jewish state to Saudi Arabia, becoming the first US president to fly from there to an Arab nation that does not recognize Israel.

In 2017 his predecessor, Donald Trump, made the journey in reverse.

In recent months, Saudis have taken to social media — which is tightly controlled in the kingdom — to express their support for normalization, which would be a shift from the kingdom’s long-standing pan-Arab policy to isolate Israel until the conflict with the Palestinians is resolved.

Esawi Frej, Israel’s minister of regional cooperation, told Saudi newspaper Arab News earlier in June that Riyadh would be “central” to any solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Axios news website reported, also this month, that the United States was working on a “road map” for normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia, while The Wall Street Journal said the region’s two most influential nations were engaging in secret economic and security talks.

Yasmine Farouk of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said a relationship with Israel will contribute to greater acceptance of Saudi Arabia.

“It will open doors for the crown prince, with Western people and parliaments accepting the kingdom, and granting Saudi Arabia a greater role,” she said.

“It will make a change, whether just in regards to the image of Saudi Arabia… especially since (Prince Mohammed) sees it as a global power, not just an Arab and Islamic one.”

She said that Israel would want normalization “because not only will it open the door to Saudi Arabia, but to other (Arab and Muslim) countries that may already engage in secret discussions with Israel but don’t dare normalize yet.”