US, Saudi Arabia on verge of ‘historic’ deal: Senior American diplomat

Washington’s envoy to Riyadh said that the US and Saudi Arabia were on the verge of a historic agreement, which, if completed, would see a path to Palestinian statehood as well as the establishment of diplomatic ties between the Kingdom and Israel.

“We tend to overuse the word historic, but I think taken as a whole, this package of agreements would be truly historic,” US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Michael Ratney said.

“But as part of that, there’s a role for the Palestinians. The Saudis have made clear that that’s a requirement of theirs and we as well have our expectations… there has to be a path forward for statehood for the Palestinians,” Ratney said in an interview with Saudi daily Arab News.

The Biden administration has long been trying to broker what would be a landmark deal. Last October, Secretary of State Antony Blinken was scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia to discuss a concrete plan for normalization. The Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel put those talks on hold and have since resumed. However, the specifics of the deal have changed a bit and the Israelis are now the main obstacle.

Riyadh has been and continues to say that a Palestinian state remains the key to such an agreement.

Just as crucial as the Palestinian state would be a treaty or security pact between Washington and Riyadh as well as cooperation on Saudi Arabia’s civilian nuclear program and other economic agreements.

Officials familiar with the matter recently told Al Arabiya English that the Biden administration will lift a freeze on offensive arms sales to Saudi Arabia in the coming weeks.

Under Biden, the US initially targeted Gulf countries with several foreign policy actions. These included lifting the terror designation from Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militia, despite strong opposition from traditional Gulf and Arab allies, and freezing what was termed “offensive” weapons sales.

Ratney said that talks on a Senate-ratified treaty between the US and Saudi Arabia would make it a formal agreement that does not depend on a particular US administration. “It would be an enduring agreement, not between an administration or government, but between two countries,” the US diplomat said. “And that brings certainty: it brings certainty to us; it would bring certainty to the Saudis as well.”

Ratney said details of the security arrangement and comparisons to the US-Japan alliance, which allows for US military bases on Japanese soil and a commitment from both countries to defend one another in the event of an attack, were still being discussed.

“Let’s just say this would be a historic agreement that would upgrade the security partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia, it would upgrade the economic relationship, it would bring Israel and Saudi Arabia essentially into the same region, and it would bring benefits and a path to statehood for the Palestinians,” he said. “So that’s a lot.”