Palestinian Authority officials talked with Saudi representatives in Riyadh. They were also going to meet with US officials. The US has been trying for a big agreement to make Israel and Saudi Arabia friendly, backed by the US. This would include a major security deal the Saudis want with the US. But there are big challenges and it’s still far from happening.
The White House National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan, said, “We don’t expect any immediate announcements or big progress soon.”
Even though it’s uncertain, there’s ongoing talk about how this Middle East agreement might work. American diplomats have been shuttling between Riyadh, Amman, and Jerusalem this summer, trying to make progress.
US President Joe Biden wants a Saudi-Israeli agreement to be a major achievement he can show to voters before the next election.
Saudi Arabia, a prominent leader in the Arab and Islamic worlds, has never officially acknowledged Israel since it was established in 1948.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently spoke optimistically about the chance of a historic change.
However, any agreement would be very controversial.
In exchange for recognizing Israel, Saudi Arabia is asking for US assurances for advanced American-made weapons and, most importantly, a civil nuclear program that includes uranium enrichment in Saudi Arabia.
Israel, on the other hand, would gain from economic and defense partnerships with the powerful Gulf nation, fulfilling a goal they’ve had for a long time in the region, following other normalization deals with Arab states in 2020.
Diana Buttu, a former legal adviser to the official Palestinian negotiating team, commented, “These are mostly security and trade agreements. Looking ahead to 2023, we now see that Saudi Arabia also wants to be a part of this.”
For an agreement to work, it would need to involve significant concessions from Israel toward the Palestinians.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto leader of the kingdom, has to reassure his own public, which has a history of being against Israel and strongly supports the Palestinian cause.
President Biden has to show he’s secured significant benefits for the Palestinians to gain support from his Democratic Party. Many in the party are against giving incentives to Saudi Arabia due to its human rights record and involvement in the Yemen war. They also oppose rewarding Israel’s current nationalist government, which they see as causing tensions in the West Bank and instability in Israel.
Top Palestinian officials, including those close to President Mahmoud Abbas, met with Saudi officials to discuss their demands. These include giving more control of certain areas in the West Bank to the Palestinian Authority, stopping Israeli settlement growth, resuming Saudi financial support, reopening the US consulate in Jerusalem, and restarting US-brokered negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
These concessions are seen as significant, possibly too much, by the Americans. However, they don’t align with the official Palestinian stance, which rejects Saudi-Israel normalization unless it leads to an independent Palestinian state.
This approach reflects the tough position the Palestinian leadership is in. They feel limited in their options and are debating how best to advocate for their demands.
In 2020, several Arab countries like the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan started making peace deals with Israel, brokered by the US and supported by President Trump. These deals marked a big change in relationships in the Middle East, involving diplomatic, trade, and security connections. However, some criticized these agreements for the significant benefits provided by the US, including giving access to high-quality American weapons.
During this time, the Palestinian Authority (PA) was not included in the talks because they boycotted diplomatic ties with the US. They viewed Trump’s peace plan as heavily favoring Israel. Now, engaging with Saudi Arabia might be a way for the PA to remind Riyadh about the Arab Peace Initiative’s goal – establishing an independent Palestinian state – instead of being completely left out.
But there are risks for the Palestinian leadership, who are already unpopular with their own people. If the benefits seem small, getting involved could be seen as a mistake. Additionally, any concessions from Israel to the Palestinians are likely to be rejected by the nationalist members of Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, making a deal even harder. Netanyahu has dismissed Palestinian concessions as merely a formality and not part of serious discussions with Saudi Arabia.
SOURCE: BBC