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Biden supports Israel to ‘return home’ as Saudi Arabia’s long legs fumble According to Reuters


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© Reuters. US President Joe Biden departs for his first trip as president to the Middle East, where he will visit Israel, the Occupied West Bank and Saudi Arabia, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, USA , July 12, 2022. REUTERS / Evelyn Hockstein

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By Steve Holland

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel embraced US President Joe Biden like an old friend on Wednesday at the start of a high-level visit dominated by efforts to bring Israel closer to Saudi Arabia and convince the Washington’s Gulf allies pumped more oil.

Landing at Ben Gurion Airport, whose runway he first flew in 1973 as a senator, Biden held hands with Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid and, in a speech, described the relationship between the two countries is “deep”.

“You don’t have to be a Jew to be a Zionist,” Biden added, voicing support for the ideology behind Israel’s foundation on lands of ancient Jewish origin, and which many Palestinians deeply resent.

Biden also reiterated the United States’ desire for talks, which have been stalled since 2014, on Palestinian independence in Israeli-occupied territory, calling the two-state solution “hopeful.” the best”.

After private meetings with leaders of both sides, on Friday, Biden will fly to Saudi Arabia, where he will attend a summit of Gulf allies. With downward pressure on skyrocketing gasoline prices at home that has hurt his approval rating, he is expected to push for an expansion of oil production.

Biden’s first trip as president to Israel – which he described in a television interview as “like going home” – was the 10th of his long political career. Biden entered the White House 18 months ago.

In his welcome speech, Lapid called Biden “one of the best friends Israel has ever known”. However, Israel and the United States were at times divided over Iran’s nuclear diplomacy and the prospect of Palestinian statehood.

NORMAL ISRAEL-SAUDI ‘HAVE A LONG TIME’

Biden’s trip could create more steps toward normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia, historic rivals but also two powerful US allies who share concerns about Iran.

Mr Biden told Israel’s Channel 12 television “it will take a long time to build the relationship between Israel and Saudi Arabia”. “But strengthening the relationship in terms of accepting each other’s presence, doing certain things together – it all makes sense to me.”

He added that the increased integration of Israelis in the region makes it “more likely that there will be a means by which they can finally come to an accommodation with the Palestinians”.

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan reiterated Washington’s desire to reopen the consulate in Jerusalem that former US President Donald Trump closed. The consulate has served Palestinians who want East Jerusalem to be the capital of a future state. Israel wants it closed.

Wasel Abu Youssef, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said he saw nothing new from Biden on Palestinian issues.

“Biden’s visit is aimed at uniting the occupying state in the Arab region and building a new coalition against Iran. When it comes to the promises President Biden made during his election campaign and when he first took office, we don’t see any realistic formula to reflect that in practice,” he said. more.

MBS OPTICAL

The focus of Mr Biden’s visit will be talks in Jeddah with Saudi leaders, including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is accused by the US intelligence community of being behind the assassination of his home. Washington Post’s Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

The meeting was a reversal of Biden’s previous stance on making Saudi Arabia the “headline” of Khashoggi’s death. How the White House handles the optics of the meeting and whether photos will be released of the meeting will be closely watched.

Aides say he will raise human rights concerns while in Saudi Arabia, but he is still drawn to a barrage of critics.

Washington Post publisher Fred Ryan wrote in an article: “Biden needs Saudi Arabia to increase their oil production to help keep global energy prices in check. “The trip sends a message that the United States is willing to look the other way when its commercial interests are at stake.”

Biden’s talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will be the first between an American president and a Palestinian leader since the Obama administration. Palestinians boycott the Trump administration because of perceived pro-Israel bias.

Tensions have been high between Israel and Palestine following the May murder of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh during an Israeli military raid in the West Bank.

Palestinians say she was intentionally killed by the Israeli army; Israel denies this. Washington has concluded that she was killed by a bullet from the direction of an Israeli position but there is no evidence that it was intentional.

Her family has accused the Biden administration of failing to punish Israel for her killing, and asked to meet Biden during a trip to the region this week. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken spoke to the family, Sullivan said, and invited them to a meeting.

Palestinians, while appreciating the resumption of relations under Biden, want the US to remove the PLO from the US list of terrorist organizations, preventing changes to the rules of worship in places religious site in Jerusalem by Muslims and Jews, while limiting the expansion of Jewish settlement in the West Bank.

Israeli officials have said Mr Biden’s visit will lead to what they call the Jerusalem Declaration on the US-Israel Strategic Partnership.

An official said the joint statement “takes a very clear and united stance against Iran, its nuclear program and its aggression in the region, and commits both countries to use all the elements of their power.” its national strength to counter the Iranian nuclear threat.”

Biden will likely face questions from Israel and Gulf states about the wisdom of his efforts to revive a nuclear deal with Iran that was abandoned by Trump.

At Ben Gurion Airport, Biden received a press conference about Israel’s US-backed Iron Dome defense system and a new laser-activated system called Iron Beam. He also paid his respects at Yad Vashem, Israel’s memorial to Holocaust victims, wiping tears from his eyes as he spoke to two women who survived the genocide of the Second World War.

Israel has been rattled by internal political strife with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s coalition collapsing in June. This left Lapid as a caretaker until new elections in November, the fifth in less than four years. He and Biden will have a joint press conference on Thursday.

Biden will also meet with past prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, now the leader of the opposition. Netanyahu was a close Trump ally and a critic of the Obama administration when Biden was vice president.



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