More Arab countries are making gestures to improve ties with Israel, a senior US official indicated on Wednesday that US President Joe Biden is set to visit the region next month.
Biden will travel to Israel, the West Bank and Saudi Arabia from July 13 to 16 for a regional meeting that former US President Donald Trump completed in hopes that the Kingdom of Islam’s holiest sites would recognize the Jewish state.
US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf said the Biden administration is encouraging greater cooperation between Israel and the Arab countries with which it has ties.
“We are working in a space that is not in the public domain, along with some other countries. And I think you’ll see some interesting things during the president’s visit,” she told a congressional subcommittee.
Asked to elaborate, Leaf said, “I really don’t want to step on the president’s toes.”
The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco became the first Arab states in decades to normalize ties with Israel in 2020 as part of the so-called Abrahamic Agreement, which Trump considered a signature foreign policy achievement. Sudan also signaled a desire to normalize relations, but it has largely stalled amid unrest in the African nation.
Barbara Leaf, the then US Ambassador to the UAE. (Tech. Sgt. Anthony Nelson Jr. / US Air Force)
Leaf said the UAE-Israeli relationship was “going on like gangbusters” but the Biden administration also wanted to encourage broader cooperation.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken joined his counterparts from Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Bahrain and Egypt at the March meeting in Israel’s Negev desert.
Leif said the United States wanted the event to be annual and include the Palestinian Authority and Jordan – the only other Arab nation that recognizes Israel but which has seen rising tensions over the situation in Jerusalem.
Leif said the meetings are aimed at deepening cooperation in areas including water, tourism, health and food security.
Israel has also found common cause with the Gulf Arab states in its strained relations with the Shia clerical state of Iran.
Separate Wednesday axios news site reported that the White House is working on a “roadmap for normalization” between Israel and Saudi Arabia. The plan was revealed last week during a briefing with think tank experts, said four sources familiar with the matter.
US President Joe Biden and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. (Collage/AP)
Attendees were provided with little additional details, but US officials briefing the meeting made it clear that there would be no agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia during Biden’s visit to the Middle East.
Another source told Axios that the Biden administration was following a gradual process that would take time.
A senior Israeli official told the news site that no major breakthrough was likely during Biden’s visit, a minor agreement on the verge of seeing Israeli airlines using Saudi airspace for flights to India and China. was.
Also on Wednesday, Channel 12 aired an interview with a senior Saudi journalist who said he was close to the country’s leaders, who claimed that the Gulf state could continue ties with Israel even without US mediation. can normalize.
In a video broadcast on Channel 12, Mubarak al-Ati, director of Saudi Arabia’s official al-Ekhbariya radio, said: “In my opinion, there is no need for the US president to meditate between Tel Aviv and other countries.”
“The negotiating table is open, and we can talk openly,” Al-Ati said, referring to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s recent remarks that Israel could be a “potential ally” of Riyadh.
“There is no stopping ties with Israel … and I think all signs show that Israel can be part of Saudi Arabia’s network of connections,” he said.
