Al-Jazeera / August 9, 2023
White House says ‘still a lot’ to discuss as questions swirl around potential deal to normalize Israel-Saudi relations.
US President Joe Biden’s administration has said more discussions need to happen before a potential deal to normalize relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel can be reached.
White House spokesperson John Kirby said on Wednesday that the two countries have not agreed on a shared framework for negotiations, playing down speculation over a possible deal that news outlets have reported could include a US security guarantee for Saudi Arabia.
“There’s still a lot of discussing to happen here,” Kirby told reporters.
“There is no agreed-to set of negotiations, there’s no agreed-to framework to codify normalization or any of the other security considerations that we and our friends have in the region.”
Fostering stronger ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel – two top US allies in the Middle East – has become a central focus of the Biden administration’s policy in the region.
While Washington has not commented on the specifics of a potential Israeli-Saudi normalization agreement, US officials have said they are seeking such a pact.
But critics have questioned whether making concessions to move a deal forward is in the US interest and whether an agreement would include significant gains for the Palestinians.
Kirby said on Wednesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet Biden “somewhere in the US” later this year, but did not specify whether a meeting would take place at the White House.
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller also said on Wednesday that there had been “productive conversations” on a possible Israeli-Saudi deal and he expected more talks to take place in the coming weeks.
“We’ve made progress on a number of issues. I’m not going to get into what the progress is, but it is still a long road to go, with an uncertain future,” Miller said during a news briefing.
In the past, the possibility of normalization with Arab countries was seen as a form of leverage that could be used to extract concessions from Israel towards the creation of an independent Palestinian state.
But Palestinians, citing the hardline policies of Netanyahu’s far-right government, have expressed little confidence that closer ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel will translate into significant changes to their situation.
Israel has continued to expand illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, and Palestinians in the West Bank have been hit by the deadliest wave of Israeli military violence in years.
Still, the US has made promoting so-called Israeli “normalization” deals a key plank of its Middle East policy.
And the Biden administration has thrown its support behind what are known as the Abraham Accords, a series of agreements that were brokered between Israel and Arab countries under Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump.
During a visit to Washington, DC last month, Israeli President Isaac Herzog thanked the US “for working towards establishing peaceful relations between Israel and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia — a leading nation in the region and in the Muslim world”.
“We pray for this moment to come,” Herzog said during an address to the US Congress.
For its part, the Saudi government has not officially changed its position in support of the Arab Peace Initiative, which conditions recognition of Israel on establishing a Palestinian state and finding a “fair solution” for Palestinian refugees.
It remains unclear what would be included in a potential Israeli-Saudi normalization deal.
In late July, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman said Biden was pursuing a plan that involves giving Saudi Arabia NATO-like security guarantees and helping the Gulf kingdom kick-start a civilian nuclear program.
Axios journalist Barak Ravid also reported on Wednesday that Netanyahu is seeking a US security guarantee as part of the push for normalization.
“The exact parameters of Neyanyahu’s proposed agreement are not known,” Ravid reported, but he said Israeli officials have said the proposal will focus on US security guarantees around perceived threats from Iran.
SOURCE: AL-JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
_______
White House: No framework agreed yet for an Israel-Saudi deal
Reuters / August 9, 2023
The White House said on Wednesday there was no agreed framework to codify a deal that would have Saudi Arabia recognize Israel, adding a lot of talks would be needed before any such agreement could be signed.
U.S. officials have sought for months to reach what would be a deal that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says would be a huge step toward ending the Arab-Israeli conflict but that Riyadh has signaled would rest on Palestinian statehood.
National security spokesperson John Kirby played down a report in The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday that said the United States and Saudi Arabia had agreed on the broad contours.
“There’s still a lot of discussing to happen here. There’s still a lot of conversations that have to occur before we get there,” he said.
“There is no agreed to set of negotiations, there’s no agreed-to framework to codify normalization or any of the other security considerations that we and our friends have in the region,” he continued.
U.S. State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said there had been “productive conversations” on a possible deal and he expected more talks to take place in coming weeks.
“We’ve made progress on a number of issues. I’m not going to get into what the progress is, but it is still a long road to go, with an uncertain future,” Miller said at a press briefing.
Kirby also said President Joe Biden would meet Netanyahu “somewhere in the United States” later this year but sidestepped a question about whether the encounter would be at the White House.
Israel’s national security adviser said on July 18 that Biden had extended an invitation to Netanyahu to visit the White House, but U.S. officials have not yet confirmed that.
Reporting by Jeff Mason and Humeyra Pamuk; writing by Doina Chiacu, David Ljunggren and Simon Lewis; editing by Jonathan Oatis
________
US distances itself from reported breakthrough in Saudi-Israel talks
Middle East Monitor / August 9, 2023
The White House rebuffed a reported breakthrough Wednesday in talks to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, saying it is premature, reports Anadolu Agency.
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said the report “has left some people with the impression that the discussions are farther along and closer to some sense of certainty than they actually are.”
“There’s still a lot of conversations that have to occur before we get there. So the bottom line is there is no agreed to set of negotiations. There’s no agreed framework to codify normalization or any of the other security considerations that we and our friends have in the region,” he told reporters.
“But there is a commitment by the administration to keep talking and to keep trying to move things forward,” he added.
The Wall Street Journal newspaper reported earlier that Saudi Arabia and Israel agreed on what it called “the broad contours” of a pact that would see Saudi Arabia extend diplomatic recognition to Israel in exchange for “iron clad” security guarantees from the US and help in the development of a civilian nuclear program.
Israel would also agree to further the process to establish a Palestinian state, it said. It noted, however, that talks on the issue are very early, and face strong opposition from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has publicly downplayed the importance of the issue in the ongoing negotiations.
Netanyahu’s government is also packed solidly with senior officials who oppose the creation of a Palestinian state, and who continue to push for expanded settlement construction in the occupied West Bank in a bid to annex further Palestinian land.
Diplomatic efforts to achieve a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict have been stalled for years, and have shown no sign of resuming any time soon.
For its part, Washington is seeking to have the Kingdom make guarantees that it will impose limits on its relationship with China, the Journal said, adding that officials hope to finalize the deal within a year.
