Saudi Arabia | Joe Biden seeking oil and normalization with Israel

(Jeddah) US President Joe Biden arrived Friday in Saudi Arabia, the oil-rich monarchy he swore during his campaign to make a “pariah” because of serious human rights violations, straining relations between these two strategic partners.

Air Force One landed in Jeddah, western Saudi Arabia, after a direct flight from Israel, a first as Washington seeks to normalize relations between its two most important partners in the Middle East.

Air Force One took off in the afternoon from Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, to land in the early evening in Jeddah, the culmination of its first tour of the Middle East.

Shortly before his arrival in this Gulf monarchy, two advances were made: Israel said it had “no objection” to the transfer of two strategic islets in the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia and the latter then announced the opening of its airspace 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 ahead of Mr. 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.

Meeting with MBS

After two days of openly warm exchanges with his Israeli allies and talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Joe Biden approaches in Saudi Arabia the most strategic and perhaps also the most complex side of his journey, the oil power of the Gulf. being accused 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, says MBS, in this murder.

In Jeddah on Friday, Biden will meet King Salman and then join his team in talks with the influential MBS, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, and Saudi ministers.

Joe Biden seeks both to stay true to his positions in favor of human rights and to convince the kingdom to open the floodgates of its oil production. The challenge: to lower the price of a gallon of gasoline as the midterm elections in the United States approach.

On Saturday, Mr. 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, moreover, 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.

But the Palestinian political class is opposed to normalization between Israel and Arab countries, as long as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not resolved.

Saudi Arabia itself has said it is in favor of establishing official ties with the Jewish state on this sole condition, regularly denouncing the occupation and colonization of the Palestinian territories.

Aid to Palestinians

Before arriving in 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 Mr. 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, Mr. 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.

Mr. Abbas insisted on political measures in order to put an end, according to him, to Israeli “apartheid” in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

He asked Mr 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 a shooting Israeli.

A devout Catholic, Mr. Biden traveled to the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem to complete his visit to the Holy Land.