US BID TO CONVINCE ALLIES TO
NORMALIZE TIES WITH ISRAEL IS FLOUNDERING
By
Abdul Rahman,
June 10, 2023
Despite
Repeated High-Level Visits, US Officials Have So Far Failed To
Convince The Saudis To Normalize Relations With Israel.
The
recent visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken
also confirms speculation that Gulf Cooperation Council countries are striving
for more autonomy.
US
Secretary of State Antony Blinken concluded his three-day visit to Saudi Arabia on Thursday, June 8. He was the
second top US official to visit the kingdom in
less than a month, after National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. His visit was
widely seen as a desperate attempt by the Joe Biden administration to hold on
to its “closest ally” in the West Asian region.
Before
Blinken started his tour, he had stated that normalization of Saudi-Israel
relations was one of the top priorities of his government. However, reports
indicate that Blinken not only failed to get any assurance from the Saudis on
that front, but had to concede some crucial ground on significant regional
issues.
During
his tour, Blinken met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on June 6, attended
a Gulf Cooperation Council foreign ministers’ meet in Riyadh on June 7, and a meeting of a so-called
Global Coalition to defeat ISIS on June 8.
Normalization
with Israel is stuck?
Hours
before he traveled to Saudi Arabia, Blinken addressed a meeting of
the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a pro-Israel lobbying
group in the US, claiming that the Biden
administration “has a real national security interest in promoting
normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia.” He also noted that there are no
real prospects of a two-state solution in the near future and that his
government will not push for it.
On June 8,
before leaving Saudi Arabia, Blinken addressed a press
conference jointly with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan in Riyadh, where he reiterated his
government’s resolve to work for Israel-Saudi normalization. However, Blinken
was contradicted by Faisal bin Farhan who pointed out that “normalization of
ties with Israel will have limited benefit without
a pathway to peace for the Palestinians.”
Earlier,
Blinken ended up committing to work for the resolution of the conflict in Palestine and the creation of a Palestinian
state along the 1967 borders in a joint statement issued a day after his
meeting with the GCC foreign ministers.
The
statement, without naming Israel, underlined “the need to refrain
from all unilateral measures that undermine a two-state solution and escalate
tensions, to preserve the historic status quo in Jerusalem’s holy sites.”
Two of
the GCC members, Bahrain and the UAE, have already “normalized”
their relations with Israel under the so-called Abraham
accords mediated by the US.
Autonomous
foreign policy
The
statement indicated that the US may have conceded crucial
geopolitical ground on other issues as well. For example, while it raised the
issue of “freedom of navigation and maritime security in the region,” hinting
at alleged Iranian threats, it welcomed the restoration of diplomatic relations
between Iran and Saudi Arabia in a reversal of the US’ earlier cautious tone.
The
statement also supported the ongoing peace efforts in Yemen and expressed the need for an
inclusive intra-Yemeni political process. This is despite the fact that the
Biden administration has maintained that the Houthis are Iranian allies and the
war in Yemen is a proxy war. Successive US governments since Barack Obama
have provided billions of dollars of weapons to Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners to be
used against the civilian population in Yemen.
In
another significant development, the US seems to have toned down its
objections to Arab countries’ normalizing their relations with Syria. The joint statement expressed
support for the Arab countries’ “efforts to resolve the [Syrian] crisis in a
step-for-step manner.” The statement reiterated that peace in the country
should be on the basis of the UN resolution 2254 (2015) and expressed
commitments to Syria’s unity and sovereignty.
This is
despite some GCC countries, such as Qatar and Kuwait—close allies of the US — expressing their dissent at the
normalization with Syria. The US had earlier stated that the US does not “support normalization
with Damascus” or “others normalizing this.”
The
outcome of Blinken’s visit to Saudi Arabia is similar to the outcome of
President Joe Biden’s visit to the Kingdom last year when he failed to convince
MBS to increase oil production to ease global prices. It fits into growing
speculations about the GCC becoming more autonomous and no longer toeing the US line.
