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(A7) US President Joe Biden confirmed on Friday that a deal may be on the way with Saudi Arabia, Reuters reported.
Biden, who was speaking at campaign fundraiser in Maine, did not provided further details about the possible deal.
The comments come a day after New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman reported that Biden has confirmed that he has given his advisers the green light to promote a deal with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that would include normalization with Israel.
According to Friedman’s report, the talks are progressing faster than expected.
The report said that one of the key conditions is significant concessions by Israel to the Palestinian Authority in a manner that preserves the future possibility of implementing the two-state solution.
In recent days, there have been intense discussions on the issue and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan was even sent to Saudi Arabia for talks, the report indicated.
Israel has been for years rumored to have behind-the-scenes ties with Saudi Arabia, but the Saudis have vehemently denied those rumors.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made clear that his goal is to achieve a peace agreement with Saudi Arabia that would “effectively end the Arab-Israeli conflict.”
However, Saudi officials have repeatedly said that a Palestinian state with eastern Jerusalem as its capital is a prerequisite for Saudi Arabia normalizing ties with Israel.
Biden notably visited Saudi Arabia a year ago, where he announced two agreements considered to be significant steps on the path toward normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia: A deal concerning the removal of multinational forces from the Red Sea islands of Sanafir and Tiran, and the opening of Saudi airspace for all Israeli flights.
(Israel National News’ North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)
