It was a stunning photo. The President of the United States and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, whom he described as a “pariah”, were greeting with fists at the height of the Royal Palace in Jeddah.
Saudi Arabia would always be a controversial topic during Joe Biden’s first visit to the Middle East since he became President of the United States.
Just four weeks ago, Biden said he would not meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during his visit to Saudi Arabia.
Biden had even refused to speak to the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia during his first few weeks in office when he was in the White House.
Biden made the definition of “pariah” during his 2019 presidential election campaign.
This description came after the CIA concluded that the Crown Prince had approved the brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Istanbul.
Relations were cold. Then the announcement of the president’s visit was made.
Preparations had been made. The green and white Saudi Arabian flags were side by side with the US flags. They were lined up along the main route from the airport to the royal palace. Security measures were very strict.
The Saudis knew that the whole world would watch this meeting.
They wanted the Middle East and the international community to sit down and realize the US President’s gesture.
Hours after the two leaders’ meeting in Jeddah, I spoke with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel bin Ahmed al-Jubeir.
I asked why, despite modernization in Saudi Arabia, my freedom of expression, activism, and opposition to the regime were looked down upon and even punished.
He replied, “We call what you call the opposition a terrorist. We call someone who you can say is expressing his opinion an instigator.”
“If someone gives money to an organization that kills people, is that view explaining or funding the murder?
“This is not activism. So they come to the courts with these charges. But outside of Saudi Arabia, they are portrayed as activists, just moderates expressing their views.”
What about the pariah definition? Why did he think Biden changed his mind on Saudi-American relations?
“What happens in political campaigns usually doesn’t live long when in power. President Trump said things about Saudi Arabia during the campaign, but we had great relationships with him when he was in power. I call what happens in campaigns people who are in ‘nonsense season'”
Biden insisted that in his meeting with the Crown Prince, they discussed Khashoggi’s murder and the role of Mohammed bin Salman.
This brings us back to photography. What is done against what is said. On this trip, here’s a photo to farm that the Saudis got everything they hoped for.
It points to a renewed strategic partnership. Whatever was discussed at the meeting, the world will remember the trip and there is a photo of Biden showing the policy change.
So how does this situation resonate with the public? What do they think about the President’s visit and the volatile relations with the United States?
Many people at a mall I went to did not want to talk about the visit. Some said they didn’t care.
But those who followed the trip had only one thing in mind: Travel.
A man told me, “I haven’t been to the US for maybe ten years. I always have problems with visas.”
“I hope communication between us will be re-established. America has always been a good ally. But things haven’t been going so well lately. I hope these issues will clear up and things will be better than before.”
“We better go there and read,” says Shatha al-Jamala.
“If the relations between our countries are good, we are not afraid to go there. Sometimes Americans are afraid of us going there. They have a bad image of our country. So this meeting is important for them to know that we are harmless.”
Critics of Biden’s Middle East tour say that no significant results have been achieved in Israel and the occupied West Bank.
But if he can persuade the world’s biggest oil producers to pump more oil and lower prices, it will be seen as a victory by American voters.
But so far, there are few signs that he will take what he wants to buy and leave.