The United States indicated that other Arab countries may move towards normalizing relations with Israel during US President Joe Biden’s upcoming visit to the region in mid-July.
“We are working behind the scenes with some other countries” in addition to those whose relations with Tel Aviv were normalized under the “Abraham Accords” sponsored by former US President Donald Trump, US Deputy Secretary of State for Middle East Affairs Barbara Leaf said during a parliamentary hearing. on Wednesday 2020.
She added, “I think you’ll see interesting things during the president’s upcoming visit to Israel and Saudi Arabia,” where Biden is expected to attend the Gulf Cooperation Council summit in Jeddah.
When asked about the details of these expected developments, Barbara Leaf did not specify whether this was the full recognition of Israel by new countries or a more modest step towards the normalization of relations, nor did she name the countries she spoke about, given that the disclosure of these countries is up to the president. .
The Biden administration claims it wants to expand the “Abraham Accords” that led to Arab countries recognizing Israel for the first time since it was recognized by Egypt in 1979-80 and Jordan in 1994.
Attention is now turning to Saudi Arabia, whose crown prince Mohammed bin Salman is sometimes said to be relatively open to normalizing relations with the Jewish state.
The White House announced that Biden would travel from Israel to Jeddah on a direct flight, a precedent considered historic.
Some hope to make further progress during the presidential visit.
In a statement to AFP, former US ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro, who is currently a researcher at the Atlantic Council, said he expected to develop a “road map” to normalize relations between Riyadh and Tel Aviv.
Source: AFP.