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Riyadh hosts senior White House and State Department officials the same week that senior Palestinian officials visit the Saudi capital to discuss the high-stakes agreement
04-09-2023
A delegation of senior US officials is scheduled to travel to Riyadh this week to meet with their Saudi counterparts to discuss a possible normalization deal between the Gulf kingdom and Israel, a US official and a Palestinian official told The Times of Israel on Sunday.
The visit by White House Middle East Coordinator Brett McGurk and Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf comes just over a month after US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan visited Saudi Arabia for the same purpose, signaling Washington's continued determination to broker a deal. An elusive deal. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken also visited Riyadh on the same mission in June.
McGurk and Leaf's visit coincides with the visit of a Palestinian delegation headed by the Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Hussein al-Sheikh, who will be in Riyadh to discuss what Ramallah hopes to obtain from the Saudi-Israeli normalization agreement, according to the two officials.
A White House spokesman declined a request for comment, while a US State Department spokesman said they had nothing to announce. A spokesman for the Saudi Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.
Saudi Arabia is willing to abandon its long-held public position against normalization with Israel in the absence of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but Riyadh is still not expected to agree to an agreement with Jerusalem that does not include significant progress toward Palestinian sovereignty, according to officials familiar with the matter.
Last week, three officials told The Times of Israel that the Palestinian Authority was seeking “irreversible” steps that would advance its bid for statehood in the context of negotiations for a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Proposed steps include supporting the United States for recognition of the Palestinian state at the United Nations, reopening its consulate in Jerusalem that has historically served the Palestinians, rescinding legislation in Congress that deems the Palestinian Authority a terrorist organization, transferring land in the West Bank from Israeli to Palestinian sovereignty, and demolishing illegal outposts in West Bank.
A White House spokesman declined a request for comment, while a US State Department spokesman said they had nothing to announce. A spokesman for the Saudi Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.
Saudi Arabia is willing to abandon its long-held public position against normalization with Israel in the absence of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but Riyadh is still not expected to agree to an agreement with Jerusalem that does not include significant progress toward Palestinian sovereignty, according to officials familiar with the matter.
Last week, three officials told The Times of Israel that the Palestinian Authority was seeking “irreversible” steps that would advance its bid for statehood in the context of negotiations for a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Proposed steps include supporting the United States for recognition of the Palestinian state at the United Nations, reopening its consulate in Jerusalem that has historically served the Palestinians, rescinding legislation in Congress that deems the Palestinian Authority a terrorist organization, transferring land in the West Bank from Israeli to Palestinian sovereignty, and demolishing illegal outposts in West Bank.
Hussein Al-Sheikh (center), Secretary General of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, February 22, 2023. (AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)
These steps would be major victories for the Palestinian Authority, which has enjoyed few diplomatic successes in recent years. However, it is a far cry from the far-reaching demands that Ramallah has long been raising, highlighting its waning political stature at home and abroad.
The sheikh discussed the procedures with Lev, the US assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, during a meeting last week, and received a largely tepid response, according to a Palestinian official.
Biden administration officials rejected the Palestinian proposals regarding the United States, and encouraged the Palestinian Authority to tone down its requests and direct them toward Israel instead.
But any major overtures by the Palestinians are almost certain to be opposed by some in Netanyahu's hardline government. Last week, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the idea of Israel making concessions to the Palestinians as part of a normalization agreement was a “fantasy.”
While the agreement is expected to include a Palestinian component, the bulk of Saudi demands are directed at the United States, and the focus has been on negotiations so far between the Biden administration and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Riyadh is seeking to conclude a mutual security treaty similar to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that obligates the United States to defend Saudi Arabia if the latter is attacked, to a civilian nuclear program supported by the United States in Saudi Arabia, and to have the ability to purchase more advanced weapons from Washington.
In return, the United States is looking forward to Riyadh significantly reducing its economic and military ties with China and Russia and strengthening the armistice that ended the civil war in Yemen.
Any new US treaty with Saudi Arabia would require the support of two-thirds of the Senate, a daunting task given Republican reluctance to hand Biden a foreign policy victory and concern among Democrats about Riyadh's human rights record.
https://ar.timesofisrael.com/وفد-أمريكي-يتوجه-إلى-السعودية-وسط-جهود/
04-09-2023
A delegation of senior US officials is scheduled to travel to Riyadh this week to meet with their Saudi counterparts to discuss a possible normalization deal between the Gulf kingdom and Israel, a US official and a Palestinian official told The Times of Israel on Sunday.
The visit by White House Middle East Coordinator Brett McGurk and Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf comes just over a month after US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan visited Saudi Arabia for the same purpose, signaling Washington's continued determination to broker a deal. An elusive deal. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken also visited Riyadh on the same mission in June.
McGurk and Leaf's visit coincides with the visit of a Palestinian delegation headed by the Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Hussein al-Sheikh, who will be in Riyadh to discuss what Ramallah hopes to obtain from the Saudi-Israeli normalization agreement, according to the two officials.
A White House spokesman declined a request for comment, while a US State Department spokesman said they had nothing to announce. A spokesman for the Saudi Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.
Saudi Arabia is willing to abandon its long-held public position against normalization with Israel in the absence of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but Riyadh is still not expected to agree to an agreement with Jerusalem that does not include significant progress toward Palestinian sovereignty, according to officials familiar with the matter.
Last week, three officials told The Times of Israel that the Palestinian Authority was seeking “irreversible” steps that would advance its bid for statehood in the context of negotiations for a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Proposed steps include supporting the United States for recognition of the Palestinian state at the United Nations, reopening its consulate in Jerusalem that has historically served the Palestinians, rescinding legislation in Congress that deems the Palestinian Authority a terrorist organization, transferring land in the West Bank from Israeli to Palestinian sovereignty, and demolishing illegal outposts in West Bank.
A White House spokesman declined a request for comment, while a US State Department spokesman said they had nothing to announce. A spokesman for the Saudi Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.
Saudi Arabia is willing to abandon its long-held public position against normalization with Israel in the absence of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but Riyadh is still not expected to agree to an agreement with Jerusalem that does not include significant progress toward Palestinian sovereignty, according to officials familiar with the matter.
Last week, three officials told The Times of Israel that the Palestinian Authority was seeking “irreversible” steps that would advance its bid for statehood in the context of negotiations for a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Proposed steps include supporting the United States for recognition of the Palestinian state at the United Nations, reopening its consulate in Jerusalem that has historically served the Palestinians, rescinding legislation in Congress that deems the Palestinian Authority a terrorist organization, transferring land in the West Bank from Israeli to Palestinian sovereignty, and demolishing illegal outposts in West Bank.
Hussein Al-Sheikh (center), Secretary General of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, February 22, 2023. (AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)
These steps would be major victories for the Palestinian Authority, which has enjoyed few diplomatic successes in recent years. However, it is a far cry from the far-reaching demands that Ramallah has long been raising, highlighting its waning political stature at home and abroad.
The sheikh discussed the procedures with Lev, the US assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, during a meeting last week, and received a largely tepid response, according to a Palestinian official.
Biden administration officials rejected the Palestinian proposals regarding the United States, and encouraged the Palestinian Authority to tone down its requests and direct them toward Israel instead.
But any major overtures by the Palestinians are almost certain to be opposed by some in Netanyahu's hardline government. Last week, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the idea of Israel making concessions to the Palestinians as part of a normalization agreement was a “fantasy.”
While the agreement is expected to include a Palestinian component, the bulk of Saudi demands are directed at the United States, and the focus has been on negotiations so far between the Biden administration and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Riyadh is seeking to conclude a mutual security treaty similar to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that obligates the United States to defend Saudi Arabia if the latter is attacked, to a civilian nuclear program supported by the United States in Saudi Arabia, and to have the ability to purchase more advanced weapons from Washington.
In return, the United States is looking forward to Riyadh significantly reducing its economic and military ties with China and Russia and strengthening the armistice that ended the civil war in Yemen.
Any new US treaty with Saudi Arabia would require the support of two-thirds of the Senate, a daunting task given Republican reluctance to hand Biden a foreign policy victory and concern among Democrats about Riyadh's human rights record.
https://ar.timesofisrael.com/وفد-أمريكي-يتوجه-إلى-السعودية-وسط-جهود/
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