US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday said the road to normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia, delayed by the war in Gaza, was making “very good progress”.
Blinken said at a press conference in Cairo that his visit to the Gulf kingdom on Wednesday had resulted in “very good discussions” with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan.
The talks focused on the war in Gaza and relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia. Blinken himself has made three visits since the start of the war on October 7.
The top American diplomat said he could not set a time frame for normalization, but discussions were approaching the point where we would reach an agreement.
According to a senior State Department official who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity, further progress depends on resolving several issues.
Blinken said this would be a “historic opportunity for both countries and the region as a whole”.
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Washington has sought to rally Arab states to support the government’s long-term post-war plans for the Gaza Strip, and further normalization deals with Israel.
The United States, Israel’s main backer, has long sought to broker a final agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel, which would require US security guarantees for the kingdom.
However, Riyadh has conditioned the agreement on recognition of an independent Palestinian state, a prospect rejected by Israel.
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An agreement appeared to have been reached last year, before the outbreak of the war in Gaza.
The war was sparked by a Hamas attack on October 7 that resulted in around 1,160 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been highly critical of Israel’s retaliatory military campaign in Hamas-ruled Gaza, which has killed nearly 32,000 people, mostly women and children, according to the territory’s health ministry.
Riyadh says it will not establish relations with Israel until Israeli troops leave Gaza and an agreement is reached on the creation of a Palestinian state.
The region’s heavyweights have never recognized Israel and did not join the US-brokered Abraham Accords in 2020, which saw its Gulf neighbors Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates as well as Morocco establish formal ties with Israel. (AFP/Z-3)
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