Report: US, Saudi officials agree to ‘broad terms’ of potential Israel normalization deal, though MBS said wary

US President Joe Biden is welcomed at the King Abdulaziz International Airport in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah, upon his arrival from Israel, on July 15, 2022. (MANDEL NGAN / AFP)
US President Joe Biden is welcomed at the King Abdulaziz International Airport in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah, upon his arrival from Israel, on July 15, 2022. (MANDEL NGAN / AFP)

According to the Wall Street Journal, US and Saudi officials have agreed to “broad terms” for a normalization deal with Israel that will hopefully be hammered out over the course of the coming year.

Citing unnamed US officials, the WSJ says that they hope that the “finer details” of such a deal will be able to be reached although they say the odds are long.

“There’s a work plan to explore the elements of what this would be and test the boundaries of what’s possible,” the newspaper quotes a senior US official as saying.

But the report cites Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as saying that he is unlikely to rush into a deal with the current hardline Israeli government, and that he is “not ready” to establish full ties with Israel the way that the UAE did under the Abraham Accords in 2020.

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