Biden, who hopes his trip will restore US relations with the Gulf state amid turmoil in the global oil market, hailed Saudi Arabia’s announcement as a “historic decision” and credited his administration with helping broker it. agreement. The announcement gives Biden a boost on his first trip to the region as president, after his predecessor Donald Trump helped broker peace deals between Israel and four Arab countries. Saudi Arabia, however, refrained from joining the 2020 Abraham Accords, under which the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco established diplomatic relations with Israel. The kingdom, which sees itself as the custodian of Islam’s holiest sites and the leader of the Muslim world, has insisted that Israel must settle its conflict with the Palestinians before it can normalize relations with Riyadh. Saudi Arabia had already allowed some flights to Israel to use its airspace. The decision will involve all airlines, drastically reducing travel times between Israel and Asia. The announcement came after US-brokered negotiations between the kingdom and Israel over security arrangements on two Red Sea islands that Egypt had transferred to Saudi Arabia in 2017. Israel is expected to agree to the new deal, which includes the transfer of multinational forces stationed on the islands as part of a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the day-to-day leader, has signaled his interest in improving relations with Israel. Both countries see Iran as their regional rival, and Tehran has backed Houthi rebels in Yemen who have attacked facilities in the kingdom. Saudi Arabia is leading a military operation against rebels in Yemen’s civil war. The US and Israel want to encourage closer military and defense cooperation in the region against Iran. Saudi Arabia already has secret intelligence and security ties with Israel, but no announcement of new cooperation is expected during Biden’s visit. Biden will meet with Saudi leaders on Friday after arriving in the Red Sea city of Jeddah from Israel, including a separate session with the crown prince and his ministers. He will attend a Gulf summit on Saturday that includes the leaders of Egypt and Jordan. Although the US has pressed the kingdom and other Gulf producers to increase oil production to tame rampant global prices, no move in production is expected during the visit. US officials expect a deal to pump more oil in the coming months. But it will offer an opportunity to mend ties between Washington and Riyadh that have been strained since Biden took office. Biden had vowed to make the country a “pariah” over the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist and US resident Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in Turkey. The CIA concluded that Prince Mohammed had approved the operation, which the prince has denied. Biden played down the meetings for weeks, saying he was visiting Saudi Arabia primarily for a summit and that his regional tour was aimed at promoting peace. However, his visit is seen in Riyadh as a face-off and an acknowledgment that he is doing business with Prince Mohammed, who may rule the country for decades to come.

Human rights groups and relatives of jailed Saudi and Egyptian dissidents criticized Biden for the planned meetings with Prince Mohammed and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Biden had also snubbed Sisi after taking office, calling on him nearly a year and a half later for the first time after Egypt brokered a ceasefire to end fighting between the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza and Israel. A senior US administration official said Biden would discuss human rights during the visit. But when asked by reporters Thursday, Biden declined to say whether he would discuss Khashoggi’s killing with Prince Mohammed. He said his views on the assassination “are absolutely, positively” clear, but the visit was aimed at reasserting US influence in the Middle East. The senior US administration official said Biden and Saudi leaders will discuss “strengthening and deepening” the ceasefire in Yemen, “rebalancing energy markets as we look ahead to the coming months” and technology cooperation on 5G and 6G. among other issues. The US is concerned that Gulf states are using Chinese 5G and is wary of its growing ties with Beijing.

title: “Saudi Arabia Opens Airspace To Israeli Flights " ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-09” author: “David Burling”

The Biden administration has been seeking for months to formalize security and economic deals between Saudi Arabia and Israel in an effort to set the stage for a normalization deal between the two countries. Riyadh is believed to have a secret relationship with Israel, but has yet to officially disclose these diplomatic ties. In 2020, then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly flew to Saudi Arabia for a secret meeting with the kingdom’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — a claim denied by Riyadh’s top diplomat. A potential rapprochement between Israel and Saudi Arabia has been hailed as the “crown jewel” of deals between the Jewish state and the Arab world. The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan are normalizing relations with Israel in 2020 as part of a wave of deals at the end of former President Donald Trump’s term. The kingdom’s decision marks the first time it has allowed unrestricted use of its airspace by Israeli airlines to fly to and from the country. In recent years, Saudi Arabia has only allowed Israeli airlines flying from Tel Aviv to the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain through its airspace. The move completely overturns a decades-long ban on Israeli overflights in Saudi Arabian airspace. Israeli airlines flying to Asian routes such as India and China previously had to make a detour around Saudi Arabia that added hours to the journey. Saudi Arabia’s General Civil Aviation Authority (GACA) said in a statement on Thursday that it has decided to open its airspace to all carriers “that meet the Authority’s overflight requirements”. He added that the country wishes to “fulfil its obligations under the 1944 Chicago Convention, which stipulates non-discrimination between civil aircraft used in international air navigation.”
After Saudi Arabia’s decision, Biden vowed to do everything he can “through direct diplomacy and leader-to-leader engagement to continue to advance this groundbreaking process.” Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid welcomed the Saudi announcement, which he described as the result of a “long road of intense and covert diplomacy with Saudi Arabia and the United States.” He said the decision was “just the first step” and promised more to come on the way to improving relations. Lapid also thanked Biden and wished him success at the summit in Jeddah on Saturday. The US president is due to meet with King Salman and the crown prince on Friday night.