THE proposal concerning a potential peace deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel has been revived during Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to the oil-rich Kingdom.
In a conversation with the president of the World Economic Forum, Blinken revealed that he was supposed to visit the region on October 10, 2023, to work on the Israel-Saudi normalization deal which failed to happen after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7. However, he said that the latest negotiations are close to completion.
“I was scheduled to be in the region, to be in Saudi Arabia and Israel, on October 10th, a trip that didn’t happen because of October 7th. To focus specifically on the Palestinian piece of any normalization agreement, because that is, as you said, an essential component. I think – look, the work that Saudi Arabia and the United States have been doing together in terms of our own agreements, I think, is potentially very close to completion,” Antony Blinken U.S. Secretary of State said.
However, Blinken acknowledged that the issue concerning Palestine is one of the critical components to making the Israel-Saudi deal work, particularly the recognition of a Palestinian state.
“But then to move forward with normalization, two things will be required: calm in Gaza and a credible pathway to a Palestinian state. So to the extent we finish our work between us, then I think what’s been a hypothetical or a theoretical question suddenly becomes real, and people will have to make decisions,” he added.
The U.S. top diplomat also discussed the situation in Gaza and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine during his conversation with the World Economic Forum president which lasted for almost 40 minutes.
It can be remembered that the United States was the only country and the permanent member of the United Nations that vetoed a resolution earlier this month that supported Palestine’s bid for full membership at the United Nations as well as a pathway for the recognition of Palestinian statehood.
A council resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the permanent members which include the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, or China for a state to be granted full membership.
The trip was Blinken’s seventh visit to the region since October 7.
