Biden, Netanyahu reach vague agreement for Palestinian statehood in quest for Saudi 'megadeal': Report
The Israeli premier offered Biden to 'keep the door open' for a future peace deal with the Palestinians despite threats from within his coalition to dynamite the government if any concessions are made
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “agreed with the concept of taking steps to keep the door for a future peace agreement with the Palestinians open” during talks with US President Joe Biden last week, according to an unnamed Israeli official who spoke with Axios.
His vague compromise came after Biden urged him to “take steps that would keep the option for a two-state solution with the Palestinians open." Nonetheless, Biden did not provide Netanyahu with a list of demands, nor did he press for specific issues to be addressed by Israel's Jewish supremacist government coalition.
According to the Israeli official cited by Axios, discussions on Israeli concessions for the Palestinians as part of a long-sought normalization deal with Saudi Arabia are “just beginning.”
Netanyahu's pledge came just a few days before high-ranking members within his ruling coalition said in no uncertain terms that they would not support Israeli concessions to the Palestinians and would quit the coalition if such concessions were made.
On the same day that National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir made these threats, Netanyahu went on CNN to say his coalition partners “talk and talk.”
“I don’t think people understand how our system works. My coalition partners join me, I didn’t join them,” he claimed.
If Netanyahu were to lose the support of his far-right allies, Israel would be plunged into a sixth round of snap elections in just four years.
Despite the realities on the ground, Biden has been in a rush to clinch an Israel-Saudi normalization deal before the 2024 US election cycle starts and has shown himself willing to approve a so-called “megadeal” for the Saudis in exchange.
The megadeal includes a broad security pact that would require US troops to defend the kingdom in case of an attack, as well as access to advanced US weaponry for the Saudi army and help in developing a civilian nuclear program.
Despite the White House's enthusiasm for deepening ties with Riyadh, over half of US citizens oppose the megadeal. Furthermore, nearly three-fifths of the US population believes "there is no justification for committing US soldiers to defend Saudi Arabia.”
For its part, Saudi Arabia has demanded concessions for the Palestinians in exchange for normalization, insisting on establishing a Palestinian State along the lines of the 2002 Saudi Peace Initiative to garner any possible support from the Muslim world.