WASHINGTON: Israel and Saudi Arabia are a long way from a normalisation agreement that would involve a defence treaty and a civilian nuclear programme from the United States, US President Joe Biden said in a CNN interview broadcast on Sunday.
US officials have been negotiating in a bid to reach an elusive normalisation deal between the two countries.
Biden pointed to Saudi Arabia’s decision, on the eve of his visit to the kingdom last summer, to open its airspace to all air carriers, paving the way for more overflights to and from Israel.
The US president also noted efforts toward a permanent ceasefire in Yemen, a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people and has widely been seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
“So, we’re making progress in the region. And it depends upon the conduct and what is asked of us for them to recognise Israel,” Biden said in the interview.
Israel’s religious-nationalist government has acknowledged setbacks in the normalisation efforts, amid Saudi censure of its policies toward the Palestinians.
But Foreign Minister Eli Cohen sounded a hopeful note about the rare participation of an Israeli delegation at a Riyadh-hosted soccer video-gaming tournament over the weekend.
“I commend the delegations’ inclusion,” he told Israeli Army Radio earlier on Sunday. “Ultimately we want to reach a state of full relations (with Saudi Arabia) — meaning cooperation on economic matters, intelligence, tourism, flights, et cetera — and I reckon this will happen sooner or later.
Biden pointed to Saudi Arabia’s decision, on the eve of his visit to the kingdom last summer, to open its airspace to all air carriers, paving the way for more overflights to and from Israel.
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