WASHINGTON:
The White House announced on Friday that Israel and Saudi Arabia were making progress towards an outline of a historic agreement to normalise relations following decades of enmity.
To alter the Middle East and secure a diplomatic success in an election year, Vice President Joe Biden is pushing for Saudi Arabia, custodian of Islam’s two holiest sites, to recognise the Jewish state.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters, “All sides have hammered out, I think, a basic framework for what, you know, what we might be able to drive at.”
But like with any intricate plan, as this one surely will be, everyone will have to pitch in. As a result, concessions will be necessary from all parties.
Following similar agreements with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco, the United States has pressed its Middle Eastern allies Israel and Saudi Arabia to normalize diplomatic relations.
The de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, have both lately stated that relations between the two countries are improving.
In order to normalise ties with Israel, Saudi Arabia has been seeking security guarantees, including a treaty, from the United States.
However, the Palestinians have issued a warning that they must be considered in any deal, claiming that a two-state solution is necessary for peace in the Middle East.
At the UN General Assembly earlier this week, Netanyahu predicted that US President Joe Biden will seal a peace deal with Saudi Arabia, which he said would radically alter the Middle East.
Despite pressure from Riyadh and Washington, Netanyahu told the UN General Assembly in New York that the Palestinians should not be given a veto over regional dealmaking.
This week, hopes have been raised that Israel and Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s two holiest shrines, could restore diplomatic ties. Netanyahu and Biden finally met after months of waiting to discuss the possibility of a deal, which had been touted by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Netanyahu said the Abraham Accords, which were backed by then-President Trump and would normalise relations between Israel, the UAE, and Bahrain in 2020, were a forerunner to these plans.
A new era of peace has begun, he declared, and it was ushered in by the Abraham Accords. A historic peace agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia is, in my opinion, just around the corner.
With the next presidential election not until 2024, it seems unlikely that the United States Congress would approve such a treaty.
Conflicts between Israel and Muslim countries
Israeli media sites reported that Foreign Minister Eli Cohen had said that with Saudi Arabia’s possible participation in the Abraham Accords (which the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan had already signed), “six or seven” Islamic nations were likely to normalise ties with Israel.
The Israeli minister was quoted as saying that he had met with the leaders of many Muslim nations that do not recognise Israel. His comments have revived the question of which Muslim nations will recognise Israel.
Experts in international relations believe that Cohen did not list those seven countries because of the situation in Libya.When the Israeli FM made this claim, Jalil corrected him, saying that Cohen has not recently met with any Pakistani official.
