ALBAWABA - According to Wall Street Journal, the United States and Saudi Arabia have reached an agreement on the broad principles of a deal in which Saudi Arabia will normalize relations with Israel in exchange for Palestinian compromises, US security guarantees, and civilian nuclear aid.
On one hand, Israeli National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi said negotiators have yet to float specific ideas with Israeli leaders. “At the moment, we don’t even know where to begin,” he said. “They are still dealing with basic issues between them. So apparently it’s premature even for them to discuss it” Hanegbi added.
On the other, U.S. officials expressed cautious optimism that, in the next nine-to-12 months, they can line out the finer details of what would count as the most historic Middle East normalization deal in decades.
These efforts come after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, in Jeddah two weeks ago in a bid to advance normalization talks. Negotiators have now moved to discuss specifics, including addressing Saudi requests that the U.S. help them develop a civilian nuclear program and offer security guarantees.
Brian Katulis, vice president of policy at the Middle East Institute in Washington, compared the effort to mountain climbers trying to scale several Mount Everests in succession.
“It’s such a dangerous landscape,” he said. “There are four or five things they need to do to make sure they don’t go into thin air and go off the mountain. To me, it seems highly improbable in the short run, but who knows?” Katulis added.
