US official says there may be ‘window of opportunity’ for Israel-Saudi normalization

Asked to explain US President Joe Biden’s optimism about a potential Israel-Saudi normalization agreement following the announcement of a ceasefire in Lebanon, a senior administration official tells reporters that conversations US officials have held in the past 24 hours left them with the belief that there “is a window of opportunity here — if we can get some changes in Gaza.”

“The political and geopolitical stars of both are aligned, and we’re going to see what we can do over the next 50 or so days,” the US official says, insisting that Washington is clear-eyed about its prospects and will keep the incoming administration informed on its efforts.

The senior administration official is then asked why he’s able to maintain this optimistic assessment given repeated assertions by Israeli cabinet members that they will never accept the establishment of a Palestinian state, which is Riyadh’s condition for a deal with Israel.

Reflecting on his career in high-stakes negotiations, the official says he has repeatedly heard leaders enter them with declarations that include words such as “never” and “always.”

“They’ll say ‘We will never do this, and ‘We will always insist on that,’ but that doesn’t necessarily hold, because when you have that kind of a position you don’t reach an agreement, so I don’t get too excited when I hear those kinds of statements,” he says.