Lieberman talks regarding a common market that includes Israel and Saudi Arabia (Getty)
While the President of the United States prepares joe biden For a tour of the region, next Wednesday, starting from Tel Aviv through Riyadh, Israeli leaders and the Hebrew media intensified the promotion of this visit and categorized it under the “gain” category, amid talk of a “Middle Eastern common market”, as well as a regional alliance with the participation of Saudi Arabia.
Today, Monday, the Israeli Minister of Finance announced… Avigdor Lieberman About his aspiration that Payne’s visit to the region would lay the foundations for the establishment of a “Middle Eastern market,” saying: “The time has come to build a new common market for the Middle East that includes Israel, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.”
In response to a question, during an economic conference hosted by Calcalist newspaper, what he expected to result from Biden’s visit, Lieberman said, “Creating a new common market in the Middle East. This is the big challenge.” He added, “(This market) will change the reality here from one to the other in both the security and economic fields. So I hope that the focus during Biden’s visit will be on establishing this new market in the Middle East.”
Lieberman added that his regional vision includes “a kind of highway across the Middle East” and a rail network connecting partner countries. Lieberman’s statement came in the context of the Israeli media highlighting expectations that Biden’s visit to the region will succeed, especially the fact that he is going from Ben Gurion Airport to Jeddah directly, as a symbol of normalization with Saudi Arabia.
The Hebrew media is promoting normalization steps, no matter how small, with Saudi Arabia, according to statements in this direction that were reported by the Israeli media, recently, quoting the current caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid during the weekly cabinet session and his announcement that Biden will bring with him to Riyadh a message of “Israeli peace” for all peoples. Region.
The Hebrew media is trying to portray the US President’s visit as if it comes to serve the situation in Tel Aviv, despite the Israeli reservations regarding Biden’s decision to visit the Al-Mutala’ Hospital (Agusto Victoria) in Al-Tur, in the occupied eastern part of Jerusalem in 1967, as a signal to the Palestinians and the Palestinian Authority that he continues to support a solution The two states, even if he has not yet fulfilled his promise to reopen an American consulate in occupied Jerusalem that provides services to the Palestinians.
In this context, Israeli media dwell on new deals that Israel might conclude with American mediation, including with Saudi Arabia, and hint at the possibilities of laying the foundations for a regional defense-security alliance, directed primarily once morest Iran and its activities in the region.
In this context, the Israeli media increases the chances of announcing such an alliance, although military and security officials told Haaretz newspaper, for example, that there are “complications that may prevent the announcement of such an alliance, and that the possibilities of forming such an alliance are weak”, but the Israeli propaganda , which is also not without an internal electoral dimension, such expectations emerge to consolidate the diplomatic success of Lapid’s government.
The Israeli policy continues to strengthen the alliance agreements with the countries of the Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan, known as the “Abraham agreements”, which were followed by bilateral cooperation agreements between these countries and Israel in all fields, exceeding the project originally proposed by Israel under the name of a regional defense alliance, on the basis of involving Israel as a party In the face of Iran, it aims mainly from Tel Aviv’s point of view to get these countries out and block the way for them and Iran from reaching bilateral understandings away from Israel.
Despite the Israeli newspapers and media referring to Biden’s “goodwill gestures,” the latest of which was urging Caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Israeli President Isaac Herzog to contact Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, even following the meeting that brought together Abbas and the Minister of Defense in the government. Occupation Benny Gantz, on the eve of Eid al-Adha, and highlighting the fact that Biden will announce $200 million in support to the Palestinians, but she believes that the Palestinian file will not exceed, during the meetings that the American president will hold, the threshold of urging the Israeli and Palestinian sides to launch a dialogue between them, or launch a political move whatever.
On the other hand, the Hebrew media believes that the Palestinian Authority can talk regarding its achievements behind this visit, especially in light of the scheduled meeting between Biden and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem, on Friday, just before he heads to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.
The Israeli reports highlight the issue of progress in relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and that these understandings will be announced by Biden during his stay in Saudi Arabia, following the scheduled summit with leaders of a number of Gulf countries, noting that “this announcement will not be from Tel Aviv, according to As reported by the website of the Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation (Kan 11) on Sunday evening.
Kan indicated that a major security deal (i.e. arms and military equipment) may be signed between Saudi Arabia and Israel, with American efforts.
Israel is trying to focus on the issue of the direct flight from Tel Aviv to Riyadh, which Biden is scheduled to make following ending his visit to Israel, on Friday, as an indication of normalization with Saudi Arabia, and considering this direct flight the first of its kind, despite the fact that former US President Donald Trump He had arrived in Israel in 2017, directly following a summit with the Gulf states, but in the opposite direction, i.e. from Saudi Arabia to Lod Airport.
Israeli officials have repeatedly highlighted this matter on more than one occasion, the latest of which was today, when Israeli National Security Adviser Eyal Holata announced, during an annual conference of the Calcalist economic newspaper, that “It is not a coincidence that Biden comes here on Wednesday, and then heads to Saudi Arabia with a direct flight.” “.
