A delegation of senior U.S. officials is scheduled to travel to Riyadh this week to meet with Saudi counterparts to discuss a possible normalization agreement between the Gulf Kingdom and Israel, a U.S. and Palestinian officials told the Times of Israel website in English on Sunday.
Without shaking hands: Biden meets with bin Salman in Saudi Arabia | Saudi TV
The visit by Biden's Middle East envoy, Brett McGurk, and Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs, Barbara Leaf, comes a little more than a month after U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan visited Saudi Arabia with the same goal, pointing to Washington's continued determination to mediate normalization between the Islamic Kingdom and Israel. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also visited Riyadh for the same purpose last June.
Nothing official
McGurk and Leaf's visit will coincide with a Palestinian delegation led by PLO Secretary General Hussein al-Sheikh, who will be in Riyadh to discuss what the Palestinian government hopes will be a normalization deal, and to determine the principles and understandings between the sides.
Saudi Crown Prince bin Salman and US President Biden, photo: AFP
According to sources familiar with the details, Saudi Arabia is willing to give up its public stance against normalization with Israel in the absence of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but it seems that Riyadh is not yet expected to agree to a deal with Jerusalem that does not include significant progress toward Palestinian sovereignty in the West Bank.
White House spokesmen, as well as a spokesman for the Saudi embassy in Washington, declined to comment on the report.
Wrong? We'll fix it! If you find a mistake in the article, please share with us