Sources indicate the Biden administration was on the cusp of mediating a groundbreaking agreement in mid-May to normalize ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia. However, potential roadblocks emerged, with warnings that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may reject the deal due to Saudi demands for establishing a Palestinian state and halting military conflicts in Gaza.
According to a report from The Wall Street Journal on Monday, citing US and Saudi sources, the Biden administration is nearing completion of a treaty with Saudi Arabia. The proposed deal would commit the United States to defend the Gulf region in exchange for Saudi Arabia establishing diplomatic relations with Israel.
However, the Journal’s report indicates that, again, the success of these diplomatic efforts hinges on Israel’s willingness to endorse a Palestinian state. More urgently, it also requires an end to the conflict in Gaza – a condition the Journal deems “an unlikely proposition amid months of fruitless cease-fire talks and an Israeli weekend raid to retrieve hostages from the heart of the territory.”
In July 2022, President Joe Biden reversed his campaign vow to shun the Saudis over their rough treatment of their journalists (which included killing them, as in the case of the late Jamal Khashoggi), and flew to Saudi Arabia, hat in hand, to beg that the Saudis boost their oil production to help rescue the West from inflation. The Saudis told him thank you, but no thank you.
During his visit to Jeddah, Biden stressed five issues other than oil production:
1. The US will shift its priorities and guarantee Saudi Arabia’s security to stop the Kingdom from forging an alliance with Russia and China, which Riyadh had been threatening.
2. The US will focus on preventing Iran from developing a nuclear device.
3. The US will pursue economic cooperation with the Saudis.
4. The US will expand its military involvement in the region, which includes Israeli military involvement.
And the fifth item, as the US Institute of Peace defined it at the time:
5. Re-starting an Israeli-Palestinian peace process is not a US priority.
As the USIP put it at the time, “With public assertions that ‘the ground is not ripe at this moment to restart negotiations,’ and that his support for a vision of a two-state solution is not one that is realizable in the near term,’ Biden left little doubt that his administration will not be seeking, let alone actively pursuing or promoting, Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic progress.”
Two years later, almost to the day, the WSJ reports: “The US aims to present Israeli leaders with an opportunity to achieve their long-sought goal of establishing normal relations with Saudi Arabia, opening the door to greater acceptance in the Arab and Muslim worlds. In return, Israel must support a credible pathway toward a two-state solution with the Palestinians, something the current Israeli government and most of the country’s public oppose.”
It’s a mystery. The White House knows that Israel is on board when it comes to offering military support, one way or another, to the Saudis against an Iranian threat. The White House also knows that for the Saudis, the Palestinian State thing is nothing more than decoration, and for Netanyahu’s right-wing majority government, it is a do-or-die issue, or rather, don’t-do-or-die. So why would the Americans try to force a Palestinian State on the Israelis and the Saudis when both parties would rather be left alone and run their cooperation in the shadows?
If you ask me, this is yet another proof of the fact that the Biden White House is being run by leftist zealots, and by cynical Democrats eager to recruit Black and Muslim voters.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan said a few weeks ago that for Israel to achieve lasting security, it is crucial that the country foster regional integration and normalized relations with Arab nations, Saudi Arabia among them. But why must it be official and above ground? Who would benefit from this? Certainly not Netanyahu, who could lose an election over a Palestinian State, and not the Saudis, who could be assassinated for normalizing relations with the “Zionist regime.”
“We should not miss a historic opportunity to achieve the vision of a secure Israel, flanked by strong regional partners, presenting a powerful front to deter aggression and uphold regional stability,” Sullivan said at the time, adding, “We are pursuing this vision every day.”
God help us from Americans pursuing visions every day. They tend to be lethal.
