White House Makes Fresh Push for Historic Deal to Forge Saudi-Israel Ties

The long-shot plan offers Biden the chance of a diplomatic breakthrough in the middle of re-election campaign

WSJ

WASHINGTON—The Biden administration is pushing for a long-shot diplomatic deal in coming months that presses Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a new commitment to Palestinian statehood in exchange for diplomatic recognition by Riyadh, U.S. and Saudi officials said.
As inducements to recognize Israel, the White House is offering Riyadh a more formal defense relationship with Washington, assistance in acquiring civil nuclear power and a renewed push for a Palestinian state—a package that U.S. officials say they are in the final stages of negotiating.

The U.S.-brokered effort offers Israel a prize it has long sought: a historic normalization deal with Riyadh, Israel's most powerful Arab neighbor.

U.S. officials said the successful multicountry effort to shoot down Iranian missiles and drones on Saturday should make it clear to Israel that its security against threats from Tehran can be enhanced through closer integration with Saudi Arabia.

For President Biden, the gambit offers the chance of a major diplomatic breakthrough in the middle of a presidential campaign, one that would expand the Abraham Accords that his presumptive Republican opponent, Donald Trump, sealed when he was in office. The accords led to the normal ization of relations between Israel and each of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco.

But persuading Netanyahu to embrace talks on establishment of a Palestinian state remains a difficult hurdle, with right-wing members of his government and much of the Is raeli public opposed to statehood after the deadly Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, U.S. and Israeli officials said.

Saudi Arabia's leaders have said a Paltinian statehood to secure the Palestinian state is a priority for decades, and its top diplomats have said creating a path to a two-state solution is part of their price for normalization. Now, Saudi officials have privately indicated to the U.S. that they might accept verbal assurances from Israel that it would engage in new talks on Palestinian statehood to secure the other parts of the deal of more interest to Riyadh, Saudi offi- cials said.

A U.S.-brokered deal might also aid Israel with an exit strategy from Gaza once that said. The U.S. has sketched out a postwar plan that would draw on troops from Arab states to secure Gaza. But several potential Arab contributors said they wouldn't consider participating without public moves by Israel toward establishment of a Palestinian state, among other requirements.

If the U.S. completes a deal with Riyadh but Israel balks at endorsing a Palestinian state, a senior U.S. official might give a speech laying out the benefits Israel could receive if it accepted the diplomatic package, according to one idea being discussed within the Biden administration.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken offered a preview of the U.S. message this year at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

"You now have something you didn't have before, and that is Arab countries and Muslim countries even beyond the region that are prepared to have a relationship with Israel," Blinken said at the January meeting. "But you also have an absolute conviction by those countries, one that we share, that this has to include a path-way to a Palestinian state."

The U.S. discussions with Saudi Arabia over normalization are aimed at settling several issues, including security arrangements between Washington and Riyadh, U.S. help in acquiring civil nuclear power and moving forward toward the establishment of a Palestinian state, which U.S. officials have said must include an overhaul of the Palestinian Authority.

Another goal in these discussions, U.S. officials said, is to limit China's influence in the region and further isolate Iran by tying Riyadh more closely to Washington's closest ally in the region.

For the Saudis, obtaining more concrete defense commitments from the U.S. is an important goal. Pentagon assistance to Riyadh in beefing up its defenses against Iranian missiles and drones is an area of potential agreement, a U.S. official said, but details of the talks on defense and nuclear assistance haven't been made public.

An earlier White House push for a diplomatic deal was derailed by Hamas's Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which led to Israel's military incursion in Gaza.