Almasirah:US-Saudi Defense Pact Tied to Israel Deal, Palestinian Demands Put Aside: Reuters

US-Saudi Defense Pact Tied to Israel Deal, Palestinian Demands Put Aside: Reuters

News - Middle East: Saudi Arabia is determined to secure a military pact requiring the United States to defend the kingdom in return for opening ties with Israel and will not hold up a deal even if Israel does not offer major concessions to Palestinians in their bid for statehood, three regional sources familiar with the talks told Reuters.

A pact might fall short of the cast-iron, NATO-style defence guarantees the kingdom initially sought when the issue was first discussed between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Joe Biden during the U.S. president’s visit to Saudi Arabia in July 2022.

Instead, a U.S. source said it could look like treaties Washington has with Asian states or, if that would not win U.S. Congress approval, it could be similar to a U.S. agreement with Bahrain, where the U.S. Navy Fifth Fleet is based. Such an agreement would not need congressional backing.

Washington could also sweeten any deal by designating Saudi Arabia a Major Non-NATO Ally, a status already given to Israel, the U.S. source said.

But all the sources said Saudi Arabia would not settle for less than binding assurances of U.S. protection if it faced attack, such as the Sept. 14, 2019 missile strikes on its oil sites that rattled world markets, [referring to the operation launched by Yemen’s Armed Forces against Aramco in retaliation to the US-Saudi aggression crimes and siege that had started in 2015].

Saudi Arabia launched the war on Yemen in March 2015, leading a military campaign consisting of its regional allies, including the UAE.

The kingdom estimated at the beginning of the war that it would come out victorious within just a few weeks. However, the war continued for seven years, leaving hundreds of thousands of Yemenis dead and displacing millions more. It has also destroyed Yemen’s infrastructure and spread famine and infectious diseases there.

In response to the continued escalation of aggression, three operations were carried out named ‘Yemen hurricane’ targeting Saudi and UAE depth with ballistic missiles and drones.

Earlier, the Leader of the Revolution, Sayyed Abdulmalik Al-Houthi, stressed that the only way to stop Yemeni attacks is to end the aggression and siege on the country and warned the aggression's leadership that they will regret it if they miss the opportunity to end the conflict.

According to Reuters, the Palestinians could get some Israeli restrictions eased but such moves would fall short of their aspirations for a state. As with other Arab-Israeli deals forged over the decades, the Palestinian core demand for statehood would take a back seat, the three regional sources familiar with the talks said.

“The normalization will be between Israel and Saudi Arabia. If the Palestinians oppose it the kingdom will continue in its path,” said one of the regional sources. “Saudi Arabia supports a peace plan for the Palestinians, but this time it wanted something for Saudi Arabia, not just for the Palestinians.”

#Normalization #Saudi_Arabia About 7 months