US says road to Israel deal with Saudi Arabia ‘long and winding’

US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf says in a live interview at an Al Monitor conference in New York that the road to an Israel-Saudi Arabia normalization agreement is “long and winding” and that the US is trying to “midwife” those negotiations.

While Biden officials continue to talk about the deal as a real possibility, they’ve simultaneously sought to taper expectations, saying there are a lot of factors at play and that the parties are still a ways away from reaching a deal.

The Kan public broadcaster meanwhile reports that two defense sources involved in talks say there will be a deal with Saudi Arabia within six months.

“We’ll have a normalization agreement with Saudi Arabia in half a year,” one is quoted saying. “You can’t come to a country like Saudi Arabia and say suddenly, here have peace with Israel. You need to get the ground ready.”