Brett McGurk, US President Joe Biden’s senior Middle East adviser, arrived in Saudi Arabia this weekend for talks with Saudi officials that will focus on the administration's efforts to reach a normalization agreement between Israel and the kingdom as well as other issues, two US officials told Barak Ravid of Axios.
McGurk's trip, first reported by the New York Times, is part of an effort by the White House to make a diplomatic push for a Saudi-Israeli peace deal in the next six to seven months before the presidential election campaign consumes President Biden’s agenda, as Axios reported last month.
McGurk’s visit to Saudi Arabia comes less than two weeks after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited the kingdom and met Crown Prince Muhammed bin Salman, who is known by his initials MBS.
During that visit, Blinken and MBS discussed the issue of possible normalization with Israel and on his way back to the US, Blinken called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to brief him about the talks.
McGurk is also expected to meet with MBS during the visit, according to Axios.
Barbara Leaf, the State Department’s senior Middle East diplomat, is expected to visit Israel this week, US officials said, adding that Leaf joined Blinken on his trip to Saudi Arabia and is expected to follow up on it in her talks with Israeli officials.
Israel has been for years rumored to have behind-the-scenes ties with Saudi Arabia, but the Saudis have vehemently denied those rumors.
Netanyahu has made clear that his goal is to achieve a peace agreement with Saudi Arabia that would “effectively end the Arab-Israeli conflict.”
However, Saudi officials have repeatedly said that a Palestinian state with eastern Jerusalem as its capital is a prerequisite for Saudi Arabia normalizing ties with Israel.
Those comments were echoed on Friday by Fahad Nazer, spokesperson for the Saudi Embassy in the US, who told Arab News, “Saudi Arabia’s position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been clear and has been consistent for many years. In fact, it was the late King Abdullah, who, way back in 2002, introduced what is now known as the Arab Peace Initiative at the Arab League Summit in Beirut in that year.”
“And the proposal, the initiative, does offer Israel normalization with all members of the Arab states in return for a just and comprehensive peace with the Palestinians based on a two-state solution,” he added.
While Nazer added that “that offer really still remains on the table,” the core issue of Palestinian Arab rights is still a must before normalization can truly continue.