WASHINGTON (Dispatches) – U.S. President Joe Biden will not be meeting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) during his visit to Saudi Arabia next month, reports revealed on Friday.
This came as Biden answered a question about meeting bin Salman before discussing the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
“I am not going to meet with MBS. I am going to an international meeting, and he is going to be part of it,” Biden told reporters at the White House.
Biden will visit Saudi Arabia in July and will meet with Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and his team, including his son and heir, MBS.
MBS will also be a part of the Summit of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC + 3), which Biden is planning to attend.
However, a Saudi statement announced that MBS and Biden: “Will hold official talks that will focus on various areas of bilateral cooperation and joint efforts to address regional and global challenges.”
The trip will take Biden to the Israeli-occupied territories as well.
Palestinian activists in the U.S. have blasted a White House request that the Zionist regime avoid any provocative actions in the occupied West Bank ahead of Biden’s visit next month.
This came on Friday after the Axios news website reported that Washington had asked the regime to halt home demolitions, evictions of Palestinians and any decisions on illegal settlement building “until after Biden’s visit” in mid-July.
“The Biden administration doesn’t want us to create any crisis in the West Bank... They want quiet and calm,” Axios quoted a senior Israeli official as saying.
The activists said the request highlights the “magnitude of this administration’s weakness” and its inability to come up with a coherent policy towards Palestinians.