On the eve of his departure to the United States: Journalist Majdi Halabi reported Sunday morning on the Saudi Elaph website that Saudi Arabia has asked to suspend normalization talks with Israel, according to a senior official in Netanyahu's office.
According to the report, the senior Israeli official noted that the reason for this was the opposition of key elements in Netanyahu's government to any gesture towards the Palestinians. This is in addition to Netanyahu's acceptance of the demands of the Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism parties. According to the source, this torpedoes any possibility of rapprochement with the Palestinians, and therefore also with the Saudis.
Netanyahu on Israeli flight from Saudi Arabia: "Appreciates good neighborliness" (archive)
Subsequently, American sources told Elaph that Saudi Arabia brought the Palestinians into the discussions in an informed manner in order to draw the border of the Palestinian state.
According to the report, a senior Israeli official confirmed that the United States informed Israel of Saudi Arabia's decision to halt all discussions with the Americans on the issue of normalization or take any action toward Israel, as the Israeli leadership is embarrassed.
Regarding the report, it should be noted that the Saudis emphasized all along that normalization measures with them would be conditional on steps towards the Palestinians, and that as far as they were concerned, "there is time" for an agreement with Israel. The Saudis were aware of the composition of the Israeli government and the difficulties facing their demands.
However, there may be an ambition among the Saudis to take advantage of the window of opportunity during US President Joe Biden's term in order to obtain security guarantees and assistance in a civilian nuclear project.
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