Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman meets with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, not pictured, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Wednesday, March 20, 2024. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP)
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan discussed a broad bilateral agreement and Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, the Saudi state news agency reports.
The meeting in the Saudi city of Dhahran reviewed “the semi-final version of the draft strategic agreements between the two countries, which are almost being finalized,” a statement reads.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan speaks during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington on May 13, 2024. (Mandel Ngan/AFP)
The US has said in the past that the deal hinges on a normalization component that would require Israel to agree to create a pathway for a future Palestinian state.
In response to an ultimatum yesterday from war cabinet minister Benny Gantz on a number of topics including Saudi normalization, the Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement saying that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes “establishing a Palestinian state that will inevitably be a terror state.”
After his visit to Saudi Arabia, Sullivan is due to visit Israel where he will meet with Netanyahu to update him on his talks in Riyadh and also discuss Israel’s planned expanded military operation in Rafah, a US official told The Times of Israel.
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