2023-08-09 16:02:29
According to a US media report, there is movement in the event of a possible rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Israel. As the “Wall Street Journal” reported on Wednesday, citing US government circles, the US and Saudi Arabia have agreed on the outlines of an agreement. Accordingly, Riyadh would recognize Israel in return for US security guarantees and help in setting up a civilian nuclear program. Israel would have to make concessions to the Palestinians.
The “New York Times” had previously also reported on such a plan. Since then there has been speculation as to whether Saudi Arabia might become the next country in the Arab world to normalize its relations with Israel. The USA is Israel’s protecting power and also an important ally for Saudi Arabia. Officially, Riyadh has no relations with Israel, but the two countries have been working together covertly on security issues for some time.
However, the US government lowered expectations in response to the media reports. “The bottom line is that there is no agreed negotiating package. There is no agreed framework to codify normalization or other security considerations,” National Security Council communications director John Kirby said on Wednesday. However, the US government has committed itself to dialogue. “There is a broad consensus that we will continue to talk,” Kirby said.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the breakthrough might come in the next nine to twelve months. However, there are still many open questions and hurdles. This includes Israel’s right-wing religious government, where concessions to the Palestinians would be very difficult to enforce. The fundamental conflict between Israelis and Palestinians would by no means be resolved by the rapprochement. A US agreement with Riyadh would also require the approval of the Senate in Washington – which is also anything but certain in view of Saudi Arabia’s critics there.
Israel has repeatedly spoken out in favor of relations with Saudi Arabia. Foreign Minister Eli Cohen recently told the Arabic news site “Elaph” that the Palestinian issue would “not be an obstacle to peace.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the question to Bloomberg as “a kind of box” that needs to be ticked. However, in “discrete negotiations” much less was said regarding this point than is often assumed.
In 2002, Saudi Arabia presented a peace initiative on the Middle East conflict. This provided for normalized relations between the Arab states and Israel should the Jewish state withdraw from all areas occupied in 1967. He also calls for the recognition of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital and a just solution to the Palestinian refugee issue. The plan now being discussed would be a significant departure from the Saudi attitude towards Israel, which no longer wants to hear anything regarding a two-state solution and has already effectively incorporated large parts of the occupied Palestinian territories through settlement activities.
In September 2020, with US mediation, Israel agreed to establish diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Morocco and Sudan also announced such steps followingwards. Previously, only two Arab states, Egypt and Jordan, had relations with Israel.
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