Reliable sources reported that US President Joe Biden's National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan, his Senior Vice President for Middle East Policy Brett McGurk, and Senior Energy and Infrastructure Adviser Amos Hochstein met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh on Thursday, and that the main topic that was discussed His discussion with the crown prince centered on efforts to establish formal relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
For its part, Riyadh confirmed that that meeting was also attended by the Minister of Energy, Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz, the Minister of Defense, Khalid bin Salman, the Governor of the Public Investment Fund, Yasser Al-Rumayyan, and the Saudi National Security Adviser, Musaed Al-Aiban, as well as the Saudi Ambassador to the United States, Princess Rima Bint. Bandar, and US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Michael Ratney.
In a statement, a spokesman for the US National Security Council said normalization with Israel was discussed during that meeting, along with other issues. "We continue to support normalization with Israel, including from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," the spokesperson said. "We also continue to talk with our regional partners about how we can make more progress. It is one of the efforts we are pursuing to advance US foreign policy goals to achieve greater peace, security, and prosperity." and stability in the Middle East region.
And according to what was published by The New York Times by writer Thomas Friedman on Friday, in exchange for what may be a historic decision to normalize relations with Israel, the Saudis are said to be asking Washington to offer a mutual defense agreement with the Kingdom, similar to the NATO alliance, in addition to helping develop a civilian nuclear program, In addition to advanced weapons systems, such as anti-ballistic missile defense (THAAD) batteries plus: “Equally important is what the Saudis will demand of Israel to preserve the prospect of a two-state solution — in the way the UAE demanded that Netanyahu abandon any annexation of the West Bank.” as the price of the Abraham Accords.
But if Team Biden reaches a deal without a significant Palestinian component, it would simultaneously be a deathblow to the Israeli democracy movement — by giving Netanyahu a huge geopolitical prize for free after he did something very undemocratic — and to the two-state solution. The solution, the cornerstone "This will lead to an insurrection in his party's progressive base and make ratification of the deal close to impossible."
