Saudi Crown Prince: ‘We don’t look at Israel as an enemy, we look to them as a potential ally’

A report on the latest signs of rapprochement between Israel and Saudi Arabia is here.

Axios reported that these proposed steps include Saudi Arabia allowing Israel to use its airspace for all flights, not just trips to Gulf countries, and direct flights between Israel and Saudi Arabia for Muslim pilgrims to Mecca and Medina.

According to Yedioth and Channel 12, the US is seeking a more public gesture from Saudi Arabia toward normalization with Israel.

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The newspaper said the White House officials have been promoting the formation of a regional security axis tying together Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and other countries.

Such a “regional security” group would simply formalize, and make public, the security ties that already bind Israel and Egypt, Israel and Saudi Arabia, Israel and the UAE. It is Jordan that might balk at joining such an arrangement, because of the likely opposition of the Palestinians who make up 60% of Jordan’s population, and are deeply hostile to the Jewish state. Whether the Americans will be able to overcome Jordan’s reluctance to join such a regional group that iincludes Israel, with the carrot of more aid, or with the stick of withholding the aid–$1.3 billion –that Washington currently provides Amman, remains to be seen.

McGurk has been working to orchestrate a meeting between Biden and Saudi Crown Prince Muhammed bin Salman and is aiming to broker an agreement between Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Israel before Biden’s trip to the region late next month.

While the administration has only confirmed Biden’s planned trip to Israel, CNN reported last week that US officials are seeking to organize a meeting between Biden and the Saudi crown prince.

Washington has slowly sought to improve ties with Riyadh after Biden came down hard on Saudi Arabia and its crown prince during his election campaign. He was angry about the country’s human rights record, including its bombing of Yemeni civilians, and even more incensed about the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

But as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues to rock the global energy market, the US is finding itself increasingly reliant on Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude oil exporter.

Biden made no secret of the fact, during his election campaign, that he was angered both by the killing of Jamal Khashoggi and by the Saudi bombing of Yemeni civilians. But now he will have to swallow his anger, for reasons of state. With the widespread ban on Russian oil exports, the price of oil — and hence of gasoline — has gone through the roof, and only the Saudis have enough spare production capacity to drive the price down. The Saudis have said they have “done all they can” by way of enhanced production, but it isn’t true. It is up to Biden to persuade Riyadh to reconsider. He can offer closer security ties, including sales to the Saudis of the most advanced weapons, and a promise not to re-enter the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran unless it covers Iran’s regional aggressions as well. And Biden could also promise Riyadh that if the Iran deal falls through, he will make the economic sanctions on Iran even stronger.

Israeli National Security Adviser Eyal Hulata is due to meet with his US counterpart Jake Sullivan in Washington next week for talks that will include an update on McGurk’s efforts.

While Riyadh gave its blessing to client states UAE and Bahrain to normalize ties with Israel, it has refrained from taking the same step, saying it would not do so without a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

This will remain Saudi policy as long as King Salman remains alive. But he is 86 years old, and ailing. The Crown Prince has dropped many hints that at this point he is largely indifferent to the Palestinians, and is prepared to promote Saudi interests by joining the Abraham Accords. He has not been unmindful of the nearly one billion dollars in deals that his closest ally, the UAE — the first Arab state to join the Abraham Accords — has already made with Israel.

Prince Mohammed said in March that Israel could be a “potential ally” of Riyadh.

“We don’t look at Israel as an enemy, we look to them as a potential ally, with many interests that we can pursue together,” Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler said.

Israel has not been an enemy of Saudi Arabia for many years. The two countries have been drawn together by the threat from a common enemy, Iran. Israel has shared its unrivaled intelligence on Iran; the Saudis, it has been reported, are now willing to consider letting the Jewish state use forward airbases in Saudi Arabia should the need arise to attack Iran. As soon as King Salman dies, his successor King Muhammad will be quick off the mark to join the Abraham Accords. And that will likely lead to billions of dollars of deals in trade, technology, tourism, and agriculture between Israel and Saudi Arabia. I can hear the screams of rage in Ramallah even now. Why are those noises strangely soothing?

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