US official: Defence pact with Saudi Arabia impossible without Israel deal

WORLD  05 May 2024 - 14:54

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan has said the Biden administration would not sign a defence agreement with Saudi Arabia if the kingdom and Israel did not agree to normalise relations, insisting “you can’t disentangle one piece from the others”.

In an interview at the FT Weekend Festival on May 4, Sullivan dismissed recent suggestions that a bilateral deal between the Biden administration and the kingdom was being considered if Israel refused to make concessions to the Palestinians.

The Biden administration has been pushing a three-way deal to encourage Riyadh to formalise diplomatic ties with Israel as part of plans to ensure a sustainable peace in the Middle East after Hamas’s October 7 attack triggered the near seven-month war in Gaza. It hopes to use the prospect of the kingdom — long Israel’s grand prize — and other Muslim states normalising relations to convince Israel to agree to significant concessions to the Palestinians. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected any moves towards a two-state solution to the protracted Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“The integrated vision is a bilateral understanding between the US and Saudi Arabia combined with normalisation between Israel and Saudi Arabia, combined with meaningful steps on behalf of the Palestinian people,” Sullivan said. “All of that has to come together . . . you can’t disentangle one piece from the others.”

Sullivan said that President Joe Biden intended to publicly detail “the path [to] . . . a more peaceful region”. “I do expect in the months ahead that you will hear from the president and others of us more of the . . . of the path that we believe could produce a more secure Israel and a more peaceful region,” Sullivan said. He added: “All we can do is work out what we think makes sense, [and] try to get as many countries in the region on board with it and then present it, and it will ultimately be up to the Israeli leadership and frankly ultimately the Israeli people can decide whether that’s a path they want to take or not.” The Biden administration was edging towards a deal for Saudi Arabia to normalise relations with Israel before October 7, which would have led to Washington agreeing to a defence pact with Riyadh and supporting its civilian nuclear ambitions in return for Israel making concessions to the Palestinians.

Caliber.Az