Egypt Daily News – Saudi Arabia has abandoned its efforts to conclude an ambitious defense treaty with the United States in exchange for normalizing relations with Israel and now wants a limited military cooperation agreement, two Saudi and four Western officials said, according to Reuters.
Saudi Arabia softened its position on the establishment of a Palestinian state in an effort to conclude a broad bilateral security treaty earlier this year, and told the United States that it may be satisfied with Israel’s public commitment to the two-state solution in order to normalize relations.
But two Saudi sources and four Western sources said that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman made recognition of Israel conditional on it taking concrete steps towards establishing a Palestinian state, with popular anger mounting in the Kingdom and the Middle East due to Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip.
Western diplomats said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is still keen on normalization with Saudi Arabia as a sign of increasing acceptance in the Arab world.
They added that Netanyahu faces overwhelming opposition at home to any concessions to the Palestinians after the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023, and knows that any gesture toward establishing a state would lead to the fragmentation of his ruling coalition.
The sources said that Riyadh and Washington hope to conclude a more modest defense agreement before President Joe Biden leaves the White House in January.
The sources said that the full US-Saudi treaty would need to be ratified by the US Senate by a two-thirds majority, which would not be possible unless Riyadh recognized Israel.
Saudi Arabia abandons efforts to conclude a defense treaty with America due to the stalemate with Israel
