Saudi Arabia tells US about pausing normalization talks with Israel; latter denies claims

Saudi Arabia on Sunday, September 17, informed the Biden administration that it is halting normalisation talks with the Jewish state of Israel as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right government has been hesitant to make any concessions to Palestinians. An Arab-based newspaper Elaph earlier on Sunday cited a source at the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office as saying that talks between the Jewish and the Arab state were snubbed due to the “extremist” nature of Israel’s right-wing Government. 

Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu is “torpedoing any possibility of rapprochement with the Palestinians, and thus with the Saudis,” the Israeli official familiar with the development said. A potential peace deal is hanging by a thread as Israel's Netanyahu has been listening to the difficult terms and conditions put forth by his National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, both of whom are seen as Israel's “extreme rightist" Ministers by Saudi Arabia. 

Tel Aviv has conveyed to the Biden administration that it is "halting the [historic] normalization talks" that were made possible after the former US President Donald Trump's administration in September 2020, brokered the signing of the landmark 'Abraham Accords to establish a stable, peaceful and prosperous Middle East region.

Some geopolitical experts believe that the normalisation pact that would bolster economic, trade, people-to-people, and security cooperation between the Arab world and Israel has now frozen. 

A joint statement of the United States, the State of Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain the Abraham Accords, was inked on August 30, 2020. It reaffirmed the UAE and Israel's shared commitment to normalize relations and promote stability through diplomatic engagement, increased economic cooperation and other close coordination.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump, Bahrain Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa and UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan on the Blue Room Balcony during the Abraham Accords signing in 2020. Credit: AP

In August this year, Saudi Arabia agreed to normalise ties with archrival Israel with the help of the mediation efforts of the United States that paved the way for diplomatic interactions. Weeks later, the White House spokesperson John Kirby said that the two countries could not agree on a shared framework for the diplomatic negotiations, for the first time commenting on the deal that many speculated would have the US security guarantee for Saudi Arabia.

“There’s still a lot of discussing to happen here,” Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council in the White House, John Kirby said. 

“There is no agreed-to set of negotiations, there’s no agreed-to framework to codify normalisation or any of the other security considerations that we and our friends have in the region," he added. 

Kirby stated that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu will meet Biden “somewhere in the US” later this year but did not give specifics about the discussions on the Israeli-Saudi normalisation agreement, or whether it would be scheduled in the White House.

President Joe Biden's reaction on the question if he met with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Credit: AP

The Israeli side was 'confused' by the decision of Saudi Arabia to snub the crucial talks.  They had expected that the Saudi Arabians would go ahead with the normalisation of the ties without bringing into focus the Palestinian issue, the source familiar with the matter told the paper.

On September 15, the United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a conference that talks for a 'transformative' agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel were underway, but that the diplomatic process was marred by obstacles and the negotiations turned tumultuous over specific issues, particularly Palestine.

The two countries, Saudi Arabia and Israel, have never had diplomatic relations and the United States negotiating the normalisation dialogue would be a tectonic shift in the Middle East. While the United States agreed to provide security guarantees, weapons and nuclear technology to longtime ally Saudi Arabia; on the Israeli side, the subject of contention has been the "meaningful concessions" to the Palestinians. 

Saudi Arabia has also announced that it will co-host an event on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Monday that would focus on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, three UN diplomats familiar with the development told The Times of Israel newspaper.

A group of hardliners burn the US and Israeli flags over Biden's tour to the Middle East. Credit: AP

“Even as we are working on this [normalisation of Saudi Israel ties], it remains a difficult proposition,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was quoted as saying. 

Israel refutes reports of normalisation talk snub with Saudi Arabia

In an interview with Channel 12, Israeli authorities refuted the report of halting the normalisation of ties dialogue with Saudi Arabia, dismissing such reports as 'false'. The peace pact is still on the table, the Israeli side said. In a remark on the podcast, Pod Save the World later, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Saudi Arabia communicated to the Biden administration the importance of addressing Palestinian issues, and he acknowledged that it is, in fact, a prerequisite to making progress in the normalisation agreement with Israel.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, right, welcomes US President Joe Biden to Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Credit: AP

“It is also clear from what we hear from the Saudis that if this process is to move forward, the Palestinian peace is going to be very important too,” Blinken said. 

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen in an interview with the Elaph newspaper said, “The Palestinian issue will not be an obstacle to peace." “We also proved this in the Abraham Accords. We all have an interest in improving life in the areas of the Palestinian Authority," he added.