Biden says Israel-Saudi Arabia normalization deal may be underway

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – US President Joe Biden announced last week that a normalization agreement between Israel and long-term official enemy Saudi Arabia may be forthcoming, the Jerusalem Post reports. Such a deal would follow the Abraham Accord normalization deals brokered by the Trump administration between Israel and Morocco, Sudan, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates.

At a gathering of contributors to his 2024 presidential election campaign in Maine on Friday, Biden gave no details about a possible deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia but told those assembled: “There’s a rapprochement that may be underway,” JPost reports.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan was in Saudi Arabia last week this week with Middle East envoy Brett McGurk to discuss a possible deal with Israel, JPost reports.

Offering an analysis of what it would take for a US-brokered Israel-Saudi deal to materialize, New York Times columnist and political analyst Thomas Friedman said in a piece Thursday that Israel may have to promise never to annex the West Bank and to stop all settlement construction beyond the built-up communities there, JPost said.

Friedman added that Israel could be asked to transfer portions of Area C of the West Bank, which is currently under Israeli military and civilian rule, to areas A and B, which are under Palestinian Authority control, JPost said.

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