Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the White House is finalizing an incentive package to bribe Israel and Saudi Arabia to normalize their ties. The Biden administration is seeking to expand the Trump-era Abraham Accords, in which Washington handed out favors to four Muslim nations to develop official ties with Tel Aviv.
During a World Economic Forum gathering in Saudi Arabia, Blinken said that the White House was nearly ready to unveil its proposal. “The work that Saudi Arabia, the United States have been doing together in terms of our own agreements, I think, is potentially very close to completion,” the Secretary of State said.
Similar to his predecessor, Biden is seeking foreign policy success during an election year by bribing an Arab nation to develop official ties with Israel. During Trump’s final year in office, he handed out weapons and other favors to the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco to normalize their ties with Israel without Tel Aviv ending its occupation of Palestine. While none of the countries were at war with Israel, the agreements were sold to the American public as peace deals.
If a deal were to happen, Biden is reportedly prepared to lavish the Saudi kings with several deals, including arms sales, nuclear technology, and a Japan-style defense pact. While the details of the potential deal have not been made public, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said that US-Saudi agreements were “very, very close” and “most of the work has already been done.”
However, it appears there is still a poison pill that will likely kill any agreement: Tel Aviv’s oppression of the Palestinian people. Blinken admitted, “But then in order to move forward with normalization, two things will be required — calm in Gaza and a credible pathway to a Palestinian state.”
Foreign Minister Prince Faisal agreed that a pathway to a Palestinian state would be “the only way it’s going to work.”
The Israeli government has remained steadfast that it will not allow a Palestinian state or end its onslaught in Gaza. The ceasefire-hostage deal talks between Israel and Hamas appear to remain at an impasse because Hamas is demanding a permanent end to the conflict. At the same time, Tel Aviv says it will eventually invade Rafah.
Additionally, Netanyahu says he will never allow the creation of a Palestinian state. The White House has attempted to look past Netanyahu to his political successor to take a more moderate approach. However, Netnayhu’s remarks against a sovereign Palestine was backed in a vote by over three-quarters of the Israeli Knesset.
