This will be Joe Biden’s first visit as US President to the Middle East. In the final phase of the mini-tour, Biden’s flight will go down in history: the direct flight between Israel and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, will be the US president’s first flight to an Arab country.
US President Joe Biden will make a historic flight going directly from Israel to Saudi Arabia, where he will meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, despite accusations against him for his role in the assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Kasogi.
Putting an end to weeks of speculation, the White House today announced Joe Biden’s tour of Israel, the West Bank and Saudi Arabia from July 13-16.
This will be Joe Biden’s first visit as US President to the Middle East. In addition to meeting with members of the Israeli, Palestinian and Saudi leaderships, Joe Biden will attend the Gulf Cooperation Council summit – a diplomatic forum attended by many Arab countries in the region – in Saudi Arabia.
Expectations of a visit to Riyadh are high, as Joe Biden will seek to increase oil production from Saudi Arabia, to stop the rising spiral of fuel prices and inflation in the US, in view of the November midterm elections. pose a threat to the Democratic Party.
Whatever the outcome of the visit, his meeting with the Crown Prince and de facto leader of Saudi Arabia will mark a turning point in US diplomacy.
During the campaign for the 2020 presidential election, Joe Biden had stated that the assassination and dismemberment of Jamal Kasogi – the journalist critical of the Riyadh regime who had taken refuge in the US – in 2018, at the consulate of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul had made Saudi Arabia an outcast state.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, dubbed MBS, is the mastermind of Kasogi’s brutal assassination by a detachment specially sent to Turkey from Riyadh, according to US intelligence.
“We expect the president to meet with the Crown Prince” during his visit to the kingdom, a senior US official told reporters today.
“US policy required a resumption of relations” after Kasogi’s assassination, “but not a rupture.”
The official added that Saudi Arabia has been a strategic partner of the United States for eight decades and that about 80,000 Americans live there.
According to the White House, “energy security” will be the focus of the US president’s visit to Saudi Arabia, but US sources have indicated that his entire tour includes broader diplomatic goals.
Climax
US Government spokeswoman Karin Jean-Pierre insisted that “this visit to the Middle East is the culmination of many months of diplomatic activity”, rather than fueled by short-term domestic policy incentives.
Joe Biden will hold talks with regional leaders during this brief but intense tour, which will show “the return of American leadership,” a US official told reporters.
The tour will begin with a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. Joe Biden first visited Israel 50 years ago when he was a young senator.
They will discuss US military assistance to Israel, in particular the Iron Dome missile system, given the escalation of tensions caused by the failure to revive the 2015 international agreement on control of Iran’s nuclear program.
“In Israel, the president is likely to visit an area where these anti-aircraft systems are deployed and discuss the latest innovations in the use of laser anti-missile technology and other air threats,” said the unnamed US official.
“It will reaffirm the United States’ strong commitment to Israel’s security,” he added.
Joe Biden will also meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, possibly in Bethlehem, according to the same source.
The US president will reiterate his “commitment to a two-state solution” for the Palestinians and Israelis and his intention to restore relations with the Palestinian Authority, which were “almost severed” during Donald’s predecessor’s term. Trump.
Historic flight
In the final phase of the mini-tour, Biden’s flight will go down in history: the direct flight between Israel and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, will be the first flight by a US president to an unrecognized Jewish state that will start from the Israeli territory. Its predecessor had made the reverse flight in 2017.
In Saudi Arabia, Joe Biden will attend the Gulf Cooperation Council summit with the leaders of Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The leaders of Egypt, Jordan and Iraq have also been invited to attend, according to the US official.
One of the US president’s priorities will be to maintain the ceasefire in Yemen, control Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, “make progress on human rights and ensure global energy and food security.”
The program also includes a virtual summit with the other leaders of the I2-U2 teams, Israel, India, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.
This summit will provide an opportunity “to discuss the crisis threatening food security and other areas of regional cooperation for which the United Arab Emirates and Israel are important centers of innovation,” the US official said.
