Blinken travels to Saudi as window shrinks on Middle East mega-deal

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Even without the Gaza war, sealing the Saudi-Israeli-US deal would be a tall order.

RIYADH - Washington’s top diplomat will travel to Saudi Arabia on April 28 as the deadline approaches on a landmark – and, analysts say, long-shot – deal that would see the kingdom recognise Israel.the eruption of war in Gaza

In September, before Hamas’s Oct 7 attack on Israel sparked the war, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told Fox News that “every day we get closer” to a deal that could also bolster the Washington-Riyadh security partnership. Princess Reema bint Bandar al-Saud, the Saudi ambassador to Washington, told the World Economic Forum in January that normalisation would be impossible without an “irrevocable” pathway towards that state’s creation.

During a debate in 2019, Mr Biden vowed to treat Prince Mohammed as a “pariah” over human rights concerns. Their leverage, strengthened by their status as perceived leaders in the Muslim world, was never in doubt, said Elham Fakhro of the Chatham House think-tank.“It is also aware that no other Arab country holds as much leverage as it does in lobbying for the Palestinians,” she added.

Riyadh has consistently denounced Israeli forces’ conduct in Gaza, accusing them of “unchecked heinous war crimes” just this week.“The US will have to deliver on something and none of Saudi Arabia’s conditions are easy,” Dr Fakhro said.The rancour of election season in the US makes bipartisan deal-making even more difficult.

 

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