US working on 'mega-deal' to normalise ties between Saudi Arabia & Israel, make way for Palestinian statehood

The United States is working on a three-way ‘mega-deal’ that includes Israel-Saudi Arabia normalisation, a US-Saudi defence pact, and a pathway for Palestinian statehood, according to the US Department of State.

The three parts of the deal are dependent on each-other and will not be implemented separately, according to a CNN report that cites the State Department.

The Saudi-Israeli normalisation is expected to be modelled after Abraham Accords, the series of agreements during the Donald Trump’s administration that normalised Israel’s relationship with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, and Morocco.

While Joe Biden administration has been working for the Saudi-Israel normalisation for years, the latest push and the bundling of the normalisation with the US-Saudi defence pact and Palestinian statehood comes amid the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip. The Saudis have stressed that a ceasefire in Gaza and an “irrevocable” pathway for Palestinian statehood are preconditions for any normalisation.

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‘All parts of mega-deal linked together, none will go forward alone’: Department of State

The US Department of State has said that the three components of the mega-deal —Israel-Saudi normalisation, US-Saudi defence pact, Palestinian statehood— will not go forward alone and are all linked.

“All of them are linked together. None go forward without the others,” said Miller to CNN.

The report said that the first component of the mega-deal will include a series of agreements between the US and Saudi Arabia which will comprise the defence pact between the two countries. Then, the Israel-Saudi normalisation is expected to follow, and the third component will be a pathway for a Palestinian statehood, according to the report.

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The United States and much of the international community has lately been pushing for the realisation of the two-state solution, which refers to a proposed solution to the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Under this framework, a Jewish State of Israel and an Arab State of Palestine will exist side-by-side in the region.

‘Calm in Gaza must for Israel-Saudi normalisation’: Antony Blinken

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that “calm in Gaza” is a must for the normalisation of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Speaking earlier this week at a World Economic Forum (WEF) conference in Saudi capital Riyadh, Blinken said that the US-Saudi component of the deal is “potentially very close to completion”.

“The work that Saudi Arabia, the United States have been doing together in terms of our own agreements, I think, is potentially very close to completion. But then in order to move forward with normalisation, two things will be required: calm in Gaza and a credible pathway to a Palestinian state,” said Blinken, as per AFP.

Previously, Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi Crown Prince and the de-facto ruler of the kingdom, has called any pact with Israel with “the biggest historical deal since the Cold War”.

On his part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appreciated the Abaraham Accords. He has earlier said that “the old and dangerous doctrine of territories in exchange for peace and brought peace in exchange for peace, without giving up a single inch”. The ’land for peace’ refers to the proposed two-state solution where proponents of the plan say Israel should give up land for the Palestinian state for lasting peace in the region.