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Rabat – Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said today that Israel has been in discussions with the US and Gulf Arab countries to explore the normalization of diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia.
Making the comments in an interview with Israel’s Army Radio, Lapid appeared optimistic about the prospects of normalization with Riyadh. He conceded, however, that any progress in the matter will be slow.
Lapid’s statement comes days after reports that the Biden administration is pushing to mediate a territorial deal that involves Egypt, Israel, and Saudi Arabia.
Experts say that Biden’s upcoming June visit to the Middle East is aimed at bringing about a marked shift in the diplomatic makeup of the MENA region.
However, Saudi Arabia has continuously stated that it will not normalize relations with Israel until a peaceful resolution to the Palestinian cause is reached.
Speaking last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud was adamant that normalization with Israel “cannot happen” until there is a peaceful resolution to the Palestinian issue.
The chief Saudi diplomat sought to reiterate that, despite reports of imminent normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, his country is still a long way from joining the group of Arab countries that have signed the 2020, US-brokered Abraham Accords.
Read also: Israel Could Transfer Egyptian Territories to Saudi Arabia to Normalize Ties
On the Israeli side, meanwhile, Lapid’s comments constitute yet the latest indication of a burning desire to normalize relations with a kingdom many senior Israeli commentators and officials consider as an influential voice in MENA affairs.
Just yesterday, Egypt and Israel signed a deal aimed at boosting bilateral trade and strategic economic cooperation. With the deal coinciding with reports of behind-the-scenes and US-mediated efforts to facilitate diplomatic rapprochement between Israel and Saudi Arabia, some have said the deal might be aimed at giving Cairo further incentive to hasten the process of giving the strategic islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia.
From Israel’s perspective, normalization with Saudi Arabia will allow the Jewish state to have open ties with an invaluable ally in the Arab, Muslim world and the largest economy in the Persian Gulf.
With the Biden administration having made plain its goal of mediating normalization deals between Tel Aviv and Riyadh, it remains to be seen whether Saudi Arabia will also eventually agree to normalizing ties with the Jewish state.
