President Joe Biden’s meeting with Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman shows that Saudi Arabia is an important strategic partner for the United States.
Ilmari Reunamäki,
Sari Möller
15.7.•Updated 15.7.
President of the United States Joe Biden the four-day visit to the Middle East continued on Friday in Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Biden and the crown prince of Saudi Arabia Muhammad bin Salman the meeting was loaded with expectations – handshake or not – and in the end the solution was a short and polite fist bump and walking side by side towards the meeting room.
Biden arrived in Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah in the early evening Finnish time after taking off from Israel, which in itself was a symbolic act. Saudi Arabia announced on the eve of Biden’s visit that it would open its airspace to all planes, including those arriving from Israel.
There are no diplomatic relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and Saudi Arabia has not officially recognized the state of Israel.
In recent years, however, Israel has established diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco, changing the dynamics of the region.
The United States has considered the improving relations between the Arab countries and Israel as a positive development. Although diplomatic relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia still have a long way to go, Biden’s security adviser Jake Sullivan commented that the opening of Saudi Arabian airspace is proof of Biden’s diplomatic skills.
Biden’s meeting with the Saudi government remains the most controversial part of his visit to the Middle East. During his campaign for president, Biden vowed to make Saudi Arabia an “outcast” on the world stage.
Relations between the two countries have been strained by Saudi Arabia’s active participation in the Yemeni civil war and Saudi Arabia’s human rights violations, of which the journalist Jamal Khashoggi the murder in 2018 has received the most international attention.
However, the war of aggression started by Russia in Ukraine and the increased price of energy have caused the United States to reassess the need for working relations with a long-term partner and an oil country that has become closer to China and Russia in recent years.
– From the beginning, my goal has been to redirect – but not to sever – relations with a state that has been a strategic partner for 80 years, Biden wrote.
Among other things, Biden’s administration has considered removing restrictions on arms exports from Saudi Arabia, the news agency Reuters reported before the start of the president’s visit to the Middle East.
However, the White House has not admitted that a decision on arms exports has been made yet, and security policy advisor Jake Sullivan also did not want an immediate decision on increasing oil exports from Saudi Arabia to the United States to be expected from the visit.
Biden promised to support Palestinian hospitals
Before leaving for Saudi Arabia, Biden visited the West Bank in the Palestinian Territory.
Biden said that the United States supports Palestinian hospitals with around 100 million euros when he visited one of the hospitals.
During his visit, Biden also met the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and emphasized the need for strengthening Palestinian institutions.
– Palestinians and Israelis equally deserve freedom, prosperity, security and dignity. Access to health care when needed is an essential part of a valuable life, Biden said.
The meeting has been seen to focus on economic matters, such as supporting Palestinian refugees. A major diplomatic breakthrough between Israel and Palestine was not expected, and none came.
The visit already aroused skepticism and bitterness in those Palestinians who think that Biden has done too little to give the peace talks a new kick.
Biden said on Friday that the ground is not yet right for negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
– However, the United States will not give up trying to get the parties to negotiate.
Support for refugees and the investigation of the journalist’s murder
Biden is also scheduled to announce around 200 million euros in support for UNRWA, which is responsible for Palestinian refugees. Donald Trump’s administration cut aid, but now the United States will become UNRWA’s largest donor, says a representative of the Biden administration.
In addition, Biden said the United States demands a full and transparent investigation into the slain Palestinian-American reporter Shireen Abu Akleh of death.
– The United States will continue to defend media freedom all over the world, said Biden.
Al Jazeera has taken its journalist’s murder case to the ICC, or International Criminal Court, in The Hague. A well-known Arabic-language TV channel reporter was shot in May when he was reporting on a raid on the Jenin refugee camp.
According to Al Jazeera, Israeli forces shot the veteran journalist in the head and the act was “deliberate” and “cold-blooded”. The Israeli military said Palestinians may have shot him when they clashed with Israeli forces.
The main wish of the Palestinians is peace negotiations
The meeting between Biden and Abbas in Bethelem is the first high-level meeting between the United States and the Palestinians since tensions cooled after the United States refused to renew the license of the PLO’s Washington office under President Trump in 2017.
The Palestinians wanted the US to do more to restart peace talks with Israel.
They also demanded that the United States return its consulate to Jerusalem. It actually served as the country’s embassy until it was also closed during the Trump era in 2019.
Biden began his Middle East visit on Thursday in Israel, where he signed with the Israeli prime minister By Yair Lapid with a security declaration directed against Iran’s nuclear weapons projects.
For Israel, the United States and many Arab countries, Iran acts as a common enemy, which has helped to keep the relations between the countries functioning in recent times.