US President Joe Biden left Israel on Friday on a historic first direct flight to Saudi Arabia, the culmination of his first tour of the Middle East. Air Force One took off in the afternoon from Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, where Israeli leaders greeted Joe Biden, and is due to land in the early evening in Jeddah in western Saudi Arabia.
Shortly before its move to this Gulf monarchy, two new keys fell: Israel said it had “no objection” to the transfer of two strategic islands to Saudi Arabia and the latter then announced the opening of its space air to “all carriers”, including Israeli, a “historic” decision for Joe Biden. These two initiatives could, according to analysts, pave the way for a possible rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Israel, a country which notably normalized its relations in 2020 with two allied countries of the Saudi kingdom: the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
“This is a first step,” said Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, “thanking” Saudi Arabia for this measure. The Saudi announcement came before Joe Biden’s unprecedented Tel Aviv/Jeddah (west) direct flight, the first of its kind from Israel to Saudi Arabia which does not officially recognize the Jewish state. His predecessor, Donald Trump, flew in the opposite direction from Saudi Arabia to Israel.
Meet MBS
After two days of openly warm exchanges with his Israeli allies and talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Joe Biden will address the most strategic and perhaps also the most complex side of his journey, Saudi Arabia, oil power accused by NGOs of serious human rights violations. Still a candidate, Joe Biden had promised to make this kingdom a “pariah” because of the assassination of Saudi journalist and critic Jamal Khashoggi. And once elected, he had declassified a damning report on the responsibility of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) in this murder. In Jeddah on Friday, Joe Biden will meet King Salman and then participate with his team in discussions with MBS, the de facto ruler of the kingdom, and Saudi ministers.
Joe Biden is seeking both to stay true to his defense of human rights and to convince the kingdom to open the floodgates on his production. The challenge: to lower the price of a gallon of gasoline as the mid-term elections in the United States approach. On Saturday, Joe Biden will take part in a summit of leaders of the Gulf Arab monarchies which will also be attended by other Arab leaders. An opportunity also to push the normalization initiated by Israel with several Arab countries, in order to face Iran, which Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid did not fail to point out to him on Thursday.
“Mr. President (Biden), you are going to meet with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Iraq. I would like to tell them all: our arms are open wide for peace! said Yair Lapid. But the Palestinian political class is opposed to normalization between Israel and Arab countries, as long as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not resolved.
Aid to Palestinians
Before returning to Saudi Arabia, Joe Biden visited Augusta Victoria Hospital in East Jerusalem, the Palestinian sector of the Holy City occupied by Israel, on Friday, where he announced $ 100 million in aid to the local hospital network. He then met Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem, in the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied by Israel. Demonstrators awaited him with banners calling for “justice” for Shireen Abu Akleh, an American-Palestinian reporter killed while covering an Israeli military operation in the West Bank.
During a press briefing, Joe Biden announced a project to switch to 4G Internet connection on wireless networks in the West Bank and Gaza, a Palestinian enclave under Israeli blockade. While he reiterated his position that the conditions were not met “currently” to relaunch the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, stalled since 2014, he however suggested that this impasse could not continue.
“We will never give up working for peace. There must be a political horizon that the Palestinian people can at least see or feel for the future. We cannot allow desperation to mortgage the future,” Biden said.
Mahmoud Abbas insisted on political measures in order to put an end, according to him, to Israeli “apartheid” in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
He asked Joe Biden to reopen the consulate for Palestinians in Jerusalem, closed under the Trump administration, and to hold Israel “responsible” for the death of Shireen Abu Akleh, killed according to the UN and the Palestinians by Israeli fire . A devout Catholic, Joe Biden went to the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem to complete his visit to the Holy Land.