From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, August 28, 2024
White House insists Israel-Saudi normalization still possible before US election
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
WASHINGTON — The White House insists that it’s still possible to broker a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia before the November US presidential election and says it’s working to complete the initiative, even as the Israel-Hamas war wages in Gaza.
“President Biden absolutely believes normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia is possible, and he believes that it’s certainly possible to get it done before the end of his time as president,” says National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby in an interview with The Times of Israel.
“He recognizes that there’s a lot of spade work that needs to be done before you can get there, [but] that’s why we’re in Doha right now trying to get this ceasefire in place so that we can start to make some progress on larger regional issues,” Kirby explains.
Already in July, however, a lawmaker from each party told The Times of Israel that the window for the US to secure a normalization agreement before the presidential election had shut.
The two congressional sources maintained that there is not enough time left in the congressional calendar for the Senate to hold the hearings necessary to approve the US-Saudi bilateral security pact that Riyadh is seeking in parallel to a deal with Israel.
Last week, an Israeli diplomat speaking on the sidelines of the Democratic National Convention agreed that a normalization deal won’t be possible before November, but maintained that the window could re-open during the lame duck period.
The official argued that it will be too difficult before the election for both parties in Congress to authorize the US-Saudi bilateral security pact that Riyadh is seeking in parallel to normalization with Israel.
“After the election, it’ll be easier for both parties. There will be a better chance that Biden will bring the support of a Democratic majority, and the Republican side will also support the [US-Saudi bilateral security pact] because of the normalization component,” the Israeli diplomat maintained.
Riyadh is conditioning normalization on Israel agreeing to establish a pathway to a future Palestinian state — a framework Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected and which, if adopted, would likely cause his far-right coalition partners to bolt.
Kirby says the Palestinian component of the deal is critical. “We have said from the beginning that as part of the normalization process, there has to be something in it for the Palestinians. That means there has to be something in it for the Palestinian Authority.”
“The other thing that is baked into this process… is a reformed Palestinian Authority that can credibly look after the aspirations of all the Palestinian people,” he adds.
