Israel's Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said in an interview on Monday evening that Israel "is the closest it has ever been to a peace agreement with Saudi Arabia."
"The reason (we are in this position) is that President Biden has made a decision to look into it seriously. We have seen in the last few weeks visits by American officials to Saudi Arabia, we have seen a visit by Lindsey Graham, we have seen a visit by the Secretary of State to Blinken, by the National Security Adviser (Jake Sullivan)," Cohen told Channel 12.
"I think that the window of opportunity is until March of next year, as from then onwards the U.S. is drawn into an election. We always talk about the Israeli interest, but peace with Saudi Arabia is an American interest with the goal of improving regional stability and improving the economy. It is also a distinct Saudi interest," he added.
In the meantime Bloomberg reported on Monday about a rare collaboration between the two countries that do not have official diplomatic relations. Israel’s SolarEdge Technologies Inc. agreed to a joint venture with Saudi Arabia’s Ajlan & Bros Holding to deploy renewable energy in the Gulf state. The new company will offer energy generation, storage and management to Saudi businesses, according to the Israeli statement.
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