Biden’s aide says no terms ready for normalization between Israel, Saudi Arabia

JERUSALEM (AA) – There are no terms ready for a possible normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia, the UN national security adviser has said.

“Many of the elements of a pathway to normalization are now on the table,” Jake Sullivan told journalists in a press briefing.

He said that no terms are ready to be signed between Israel and Saudi Arabia, stressing that “there is still work to do.”

The top aide said, however, that there is a “broad understanding of many of the key elements” between them.

In recent weeks, several US officials have visited both Israel and Saudi Arabia in an attempt to pave the way for a possible normalization deal. The officials also met with Palestinian officials to understand their position on such a step.

Saudi Arabia does not have diplomatic relations with Israel and opposes normalization with Tel Aviv until it ends the decades-long Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.

Six Arab countries have diplomatic ties with Israel, starting with Egypt in 1979, Jordan in 1994, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain in September 2020, and then Sudan and Morocco later that year.

For Palestinians living under occupation, these deals are a “stab in the back”, as they put the legitimate struggle of the Palestinians for liberation on the back burner for the sake of narrow national interests.