Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu said he discussed steps to achieve a breakthrough in relations with Saudi Arabia as part of wide-ranging discussions with United States national security adviser Jake Sullivan in Jerusalem.
The Israeli Prime Minister said diplomatic relations with the Kingdom were discussed as part of the next steps to strengthen the Abraham Accords, the normalization agreements brokered during the former Trump administration that established ties between Israel, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Morocco, Sudan and Bahrain.
National security spokesperson Adrienne Watson did not include a reference to the Abraham Accords or Saudi Arabia in a readout of Sullivan’s meeting with Netanyahu but said that the national security adviser underscored President Joe Biden’s commitment to working together with Israel, the U.A.E., and Bahrain to promote a "more integrated, prosperous, and secure Middle East region with benefits for all of its people."
In January, American, Emirati, and Israeli officials convened in Abu Dhabi to partake in the second meeting of the Negev Forum Working Group, created by the Biden administration, as an outgrowth of the Abraham Accords.
In August 2020, the Trump administration announced the Abraham Accords in a decision with Emirati officials and Netanyahu’s government that halted plans by Israel to annex territory in the West Bank.
Riyadh held off on joining the Abraham Accords and with the UAE and Bahrain over reported concerns by Saudi Arabia’s King Salman that progress had not been made on Palestinian statehood.
Last week, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan told reporters in Davos that normalization with Israel "and true stability will only come through giving the Palestinians hope through giving the Palestinians dignity. That requires giving the Palestinians a state, and that’s the priority."
For the past several years, Persian Gulf Arab states have been warming up to normalization with Israel to defend themselves from the Islamic Republic of Iran and its terrorist proxies, which seek to spread their chaos and terrorism throughout the region.
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