Steps toward normalizing relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel are expected to be announced over the weekend after US President Joe Biden meets in Jeddah with Saudi King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, three Israeli officials told Barak Ravid of Axios on Wednesday.
According to the report, the White House wants to discuss a road map for normalization between the countries during Biden's visit to the region.
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan confirmed in a briefing with reporters earlier this week that the Biden administration is working on the issue, but he refused to go into details.
Sullivan said Biden's visit to the region will be the beginning to a long process when it comes to Saudi-Israeli normalization.
A senior Israeli official told Axios on Wednesday that final decisions on any normalization steps will made only after the meeting between Biden and Saudi officials, including MBS, and will likely be announced on Saturday either by the Saudis or by Biden with Saudi permission.
Reports in May indicated that the Biden administration has been quietly mediating among Saudi Arabia, Israel and Egypt on negotiations that, if successful, could be a first step on the road to the normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
That month, Axios reported that Biden’s advisers Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein were on a secret visit to Saudi Arabia.
According to the report, McGurk and Hochstein discussed increasing oil production, the Red Sea islands deal, further normalization steps with Israel, and President Biden's possible visit to Saudi Arabia.
Israeli officials told Axios on Wednesday that the negotiations over the deal are in the final stage.
"Israel hopes that the steps that Saudi Arabia could take in the coming days will be the beginning of a normalization process between the countries," an Israeli official said. "We can’t imagine the change in the region continuing without normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia and we are taking gradual steps towards that end."
The Saudi Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.
Israel has been for years rumored to have behind-the-scenes ties with Saudi Arabia, but the Saudis have vehemently denied those rumors.
Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Saudi Crown Prince reportedly held a secret meeting last November in which they discussed the possibility of normalizing relations between their two countries.
Subsequent reports said the Crown Prince pulled back from a normalization deal with Israel largely because of the US election result. Riyadh denied the meeting had even taken place.
Saudi Arabian officials have repeatedly said that a Palestinian state with eastern Jerusalem as its capital is a prerequisite for Saudi Arabia normalizing ties with Israel.