Israeli deputy says normalisation with Saudis does not appear imminent

Due to what he described as “sticking points” in the current negotiations being held between Riyadh and U.S. mediators, a prominent Israeli lawmaker stated on Sunday that it did not look that Saudi Arabia and Israel would be establishing relations any time soon. U.S. President Joe Biden stated on Friday that “there’s a rapprochement maybe under way” after sending his national security adviser to Saudi Arabia to explore a potential normalisation agreement with Israel, which he considers a policy priority. The proposal has been under consideration ever since Saudi Arabia quietly approved of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates’ establishment of diplomatic ties with Israel in 2020. Riyadh, however, has not done so, contending that Palestinian demands must be satisfied first. “I think it’s too early to talk about a deal being in the works,” Yuli Edelstein, head of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee and a senior member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, told Israel’s Army Radio. He dismissed the idea that the fundamental barrier was the standoff between Netanyahu’s hard-right administration and the aspirations of the politically split Palestinians for statehood. “How shall I put this delicately? There are clauses that are far more important or problematic than such-and-such declarations in the Palestinian realm,” he said. “Most of the Saudi discourse is with the Americans, and not with us,” he added, saying that when it came to Riyadh’s demands of Washington, “there are some things we can live with better, and some things we can live with less well”. Israeli National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi, asked by reporters as he entered the weekly cabinet meeting whether there would be progress in the Saudi talks, said: “I hope so.” In order to construct a civilian nuclear project on its grounds, Saudi Arabia wants assistance from the United States. Saudi initiatives to improve American defence imports have been mentioned in Israeli and American media. Israel will construct a 100 billion shekel ($27 billion) train expansion, according to Netanyahu, which will link its rural districts to metropolitan Tel Aviv and, in the future, might offer overland connections to Saudi Arabia. (With agency inputs)