Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's new prime minister, November 13, 2022
The Israeli media have reported that negotiations between Israel, the United States and Saudi Arabia to normalize ties between Jerusalem and Riyadh are underway.
The Hebrew daily Yediot Aharonot said over the weekend that talks were underway between Israel, the United States and Saudi Arabia with respect to a normalization deal between the Jewish state and the most important Persian Gulf Arab country.
Such an agreement would make Saudi Arabia the fifth Arab state to normalize ties with Israel under the 2020 Abraham Accords.
The UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan normalized ties with Israel in exchange for its suspension of plans to annex West Bank settlements. Netanyahu would similarly suspend plans for annexation in exchange for a Saudi deal as well, Yediot Ahronot said.
In an interview with Jewish Insider Friday the Israeli Prime Minister said, “I hope to bring about a full, formal peace as we’ve done with the other Gulf states like Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.”
He further noted that “It’s up to the Saudi leadership to decide that. I hope they will. And I intend to explore that alongside my other main goals. This is a very important goal, because if we have peace with Saudi Arabia, we are effectively going to bring an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict.”
The so-called Abraham Accords, implemented by Benjamin Netanyahu during the Donald Trump administration in 2020, brought peace between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan.