Blinken in the Gulf to promote Saudi-Israel deal

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken travelled to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday as Washington continues to promote a possible normalisation deal between the Kingdom and Israel. 

Ahead of his trip to Riyadh, Blinken stressed that Washington has a “real national security interest” in promoting normalisation between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

“We believe that we can and indeed we must play an integral role in advancing it. Now, we have no illusions that this can be done quickly or easily. But we remain committed to working toward this outcome, including on the trip I’m about to take this week to Jeddah and Riyadh for engagements with our Saudi and Gulf counterparts,” Blinken said at the AIPAC conference in Washington on Monday.

Blinken said that the Biden administration believes that it can “must” play an integral role in advancing ties between the two regional powers, but that Washington has “no illusion” it can be done “quickly or easily.”

“But we remain committed to working toward this outcome, including on the trip I’m about to take this week to Jeddah and Riyadh for engagements with our Saudi and Gulf counterparts,” he said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared it a top priority for his government to establish ties with Saudi Arabia, which would further integrate Israel into the Arab world.

But several issues have poured cold water on the immediate prospects of a deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel, such as intense clashes on the Al-Aqsa compound between Israeli Police and Palestinians, as well as the Netanyahu government’s push to significantly expand settlements in the West Bank.

While Netanyahu believes that the lack of progress in finding a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict isn’t an obstacle for peace and normalisation with other Arab nations, Blinken said the opposite in his speech.

“Integration and normalisation efforts are not a substitute for progress between Israelis and Palestinians, nor should they come at its expense.  Israel’s deepened relationships with its partners can and should advance the well-being of the Palestinian people and the prospects for a two-state solution,” he said.

The Secretary of State also condemned the most recent round of rocket firing from Gaza, while stating that Israel’s settlement expansion “clearly presents an obstacle to the horizon of hope that we seek.”

“Likewise, any move toward annexation of the West Bank, de facto or de jure, disruption of the historic status quo at the holy sites, the continuing demolitions of homes and the evictions of families that have lived in those homes for generations damage prospects for two states. They also undermine the basic daily dignity to which all people are entitled,” he said.

Blinken’s visit to Riyadh is also aimed at restoring ties between U.S. and Saudi Arabia which reached a new low under President Biden.

The U.S. is particularly interested in getting Saudi Arabia to produce more oil to stabilise the energy market, as well as preventing the Kingdom from strengthening ties with China.