2023-06-06 01:37:32
US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, said, on Monday, that he intends to speak with Saudi leaders and other officials in the Gulf countries, this week, during his visit to the Kingdom regarding the possibility of normalizing relations with Israel, according to the New York Times.
He added that US President Joe Biden’s administration supports such a step, but it should not come at the expense of “progress between Israelis and Palestinians” and the two-state solution, according to the newspaper.
“The United States has a real national security interest in promoting normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia,” Blinken said at a conference of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee. He added, “We believe that we can achieve this, and indeed we must play a fundamental role in advancing relations. But we have no illusions that this can be done quickly or easily.”
Regarding the importance of these statements despite the tensions between the United States and Israel, the newspaper stated that Blinken and other Biden aides are trying to deal with political matters, in Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United States, that would make normalization difficult.
US officials must also deal with the moves of the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, which might increase pressure on his relations with President Biden and lead to congestion of congressional views on the Kingdom, because the increasing tensions will hinder negotiations on the conditions for normalization that Saudi Arabia demands, according to him. for the newspaper.
And it stated that Saudi Arabia announced, on Sunday, that it will reduce oil production by one million barrels per day for at least a month, starting next July, in an attempt to raise oil prices. And that might exacerbate global inflation as Biden heads into a presidential election year.
Biden was angry, last October, when Saudi Arabia led the oil-producing countries in OPEC Plus in a coordinated production cut, according to the newspaper.
The New York Times reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been widely criticized in Israel and the United States for his proposals to amend the judiciary, will get a political boost if Saudi Arabia normalizes relations with his country.
But the newspaper indicated that the far-right coalition led by Netanyahu supported measures that critics say fueled violence between Palestinians and Israelis, making it difficult for the Saudis to support normalization.
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