SAUDI ARABIA PUTS NORMALISATION WITH ISRAEL ON BACK BURNER AMID ESCALATION: REPORT

Sat 14 October 2023:

Saudi Arabia is reportedly putting plans of normalisation of ties with Israel on the back burner in light of the latest conflict between Israel and Hamas, Reuters reported citing sources. This has signalled rapid rethinking of its foreign policy amid escalation of situation in the Middle East.

The conflict has pushed Saudi Arabia to engage more with Iran, its regional foe. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi with a view to prevent broader surge in violence which may span the entire Middle East.

A Saudi statement said the crown prince told Raisi “the kingdom is exerting maximum effort to engage with all international and regional parties to halt the ongoing escalation”, underling Riyadh’s move to contain the crisis.

Reuters said that there would now be delay in US-backed talks on normalisation of ties with Israel.

Until Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, both Saudi Arabia and Israel had been saying that they were moving towards a normalisation deal. This had potential to reshape the geopolitical scenario in the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia is home to Islam’s two holiest sites. The kingdom had reportedly indicated till recently that it would not allow its pursuit of a U.S. defence pact be derailed even if Israel did not offer significant concessions to the Palestinians in the their bid for statehood.

As the Israel-Hamas conflict completes a week, at least 1300 Israelis have been killed till now. On the Palestinian side, 1900 people have lost lives.

Reuters said that Saudi Arabia is not in a mood to continue normalisation talks with Israel for now and Israeli concessions for Palestinians may assume greater importance in the kingdom’s calculus.

“Normalisation was already considered taboo (in the Arab world) … this war only amplifies that,” Saudi analyst Aziz Alghashian said as quoted by Reuters.

The US has been working for greater intergration of Israel with the Arab world that immediately surrounds it geohraphically. Washington has been keen to build on the Abraham Accords which saw normalisation of ties between Israel and some Gulf states, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

On its part, the US has maintained that normalisation process has not been abandoned.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in a White House briefing earlier this week that normalisation effort was “not on hold” but also added that the focus was now on other immediate challenges, an apparent reference to Israel-Hamas war.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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