WASHINGTON (Dispatches) – The occupying regime is hoping for a breakthrough, this weekend, in efforts to normalize ties with Saudi Arabia during White House National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan’s visit there, a senior security official said, Reuters reports.
The head of occupying regime’s so-called national security council, Tzachi Hanegbi, spoke with his counterpart, Sullivan, who is set to travel to Saudi Arabia. Sullivan is expected to meet with Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, Hanegbi said.
Announcing his trip on Thursday, Sullivan said Washington was working hard to normalize relations between the occupying regime and Saudi Arabia – a major goal set by the occupying regime’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who briefly joined Sullivan’s video call with Hanegbi.
“We are very, very hopeful that there will be a breakthrough during his visit there,” Hanegbi told Reshet 13 News.
Asked whether a breakthrough would be a phone call between Saudi leaders and Netanyahu, Hangebi said: “There are those who say that there have been more than phone calls between Saudi and Israeli leaders. But what is important is that the United States led a move adding Saudi Arabia to the Abraham Accords – normalization with Israel. If that happens, it will be a historic turning point.”
Former President Donald Trump’s administration in 2020 brokered the deal known as the so-called Abraham Accords, which included the normalization of diplomatic relations between Persian Gulf allies the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain with the occupying regime.
Saudi Arabia has held off on following suit, saying Palestinian goals for statehood should be addressed first.
Any such prospects have been clouded, however, by Riyadh’s strains with U.S. President Joe Biden, its recent fence-mending with regional rival, Iran, and the rise of Netanyahu’s hard-right cabinet.
Palestinians, who seek an independent state in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip with East Al-Quds as its capital, view the deals as a betrayal of their cause.