What did Joe Biden's visit mean for Israel, Saudi Arabia, Palestinians?
Flights will be allowed over Saudi Arabia, but normalization is far away * No progress has been made on a defensive alliance against Iran * The Palestinians are dissapointed
US President Joe Biden poses for a photograph with US and Israeli officials as he is given a tour of Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system at Ben-Gurion Airport after his arrival on July 13. (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)ByMARK WEISSJerusalem Report logo small (credit: JPOST STAFF)Joe Biden’s first trip to Israel as president in mid-July was planned before the collapse of the government of Naftali Bennett, leaving caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid with the honor of welcoming the leader of the free world and at the same time boosting his leadership credentials only a few weeks after assuming office.
Israeli leaders were more than happy with the three-day visit. Potential pitfalls were avoided, and differences of opinion on key matters were glossed over with carefully crafted diplomatic language. And there was no doubt over Biden’s genuine empathy for Israel, as he made his 10th trip to the country.
There was even a diplomatic breakthrough of sorts, when Riyadh announced just a few hours before Biden flew to Saudi Arabia, the last stop of his Middle East tour, that it was opening its airspace to all countries. The decision means that for the first time, Israeli planes will be able to fly to and from Asian destinations and Australia via Saudi airspace, significantly cutting flying time.
Flights to Melbourne will be shortened from 17 hours to 15.5 hours, to Bangkok from 11 hours to eight hours and 15 minutes, and from Mumbai from eight hours to five hours.
Biden, Saudi Arabia and Israel
Saudi Arabia does not have diplomatic relations with Israel, but informal ties have developed apace in recent years, particularly in the military and intelligence spheres, aimed at combating Iranian influence in the region. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Biden pose for a group photo ahead of the Jeddah Security and Development Summit in Saudi Arabia on July 16. (credit: BANDAR ALGALOUD/SAUDI ROYAL COURT)The Saudi announcement had been expected and did not mention Israel in name, but it was seen by Israel as an important step toward normalization.
Prime Minister Yair Lapid thanked Riyadh for the decision, which he said came after a long road of intense and covert diplomacy with Saudi Arabia and the US.
“This is only the first step,” he said. “We will continue working with necessary caution, for the sake of Israel’s economy, security and the good of our citizens.”
President Biden said the move can help build momentum toward Israel’s further integration into the region, including with Saudi Arabia.
“I will do all that I can, through direct diplomacy and leader-to-leader engagement, to keep advancing this groundbreaking process.”Joe Biden
“I will do all that I can, through direct diplomacy and leader-to-leader engagement, to keep advancing this groundbreaking process,” he said.
Tourism Minister Yoel Razvozov predicted that the Saudi decision will not only open Far East destinations to Israeli flights but will make the flights cheaper by reducing fuel costs.
However, Riyadh was quick to pour cold water on Israeli hopes of creeping normalization.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir made it clear in an interview with CNN that Saudi Arabia will not fully normalize relations with Israel until a two-state solution to the Palestinian question is reached.
“Once we have committed to a two-state settlement with a Palestinian state in the occupied territories with east Jerusalem as its capital – that’s our requirement for peace.”
“Once we have committed to a two-state settlement with a Palestinian state in the occupied territories with east Jerusalem as its capital – that’s our requirement for peace.”Adel al-Jubeir
Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud told reporters after the US-Arab summit in Jeddah attended by Biden that Riyadh’s decision to open its airspace to all air carriers had nothing to do with establishing diplomatic ties with Israel, and was not a precursor to further steps.
As Riyadh announced its decision to open its airspace, Biden confirmed the withdrawal of a multinational observer force from the small Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir, allowing their transfer from Egypt to Saudi Arabia in a deal that needed Israeli approval.
Biden, Israel and nuclear Iran
Another achievement from the Biden visit was the signing by the US president and Israeli prime minister of a joint strategic declaration in which Washington vowed to use “all elements in its national power” to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
“The United States stresses that integral to this pledge is the commitment never to allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon, and that it is prepared to use all elements of its national power to ensure that outcome,” read the document text, called the Jerusalem US-Israel Strategic Partnership Joint Declaration.
In an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 TV, Biden said the US would be prepared to use force against Iran “if that was the last resort.”
However, Washington has stressed in the past that it will not allow Iran to acquire a nuclear bomb, so the Jerusalem Declaration should not be interpreted as a dramatic diplomatic breakthrough, however sweet it sounds to Israeli ears, but more accurately as a reaffirmation of existing American policy.
Lapid warned that Iran would not be deterred by diplomacy.
“The only thing that will stop Iran is knowing that if they continue to develop their nuclear program the free world will use force,” he said. “The only way to stop them is to put a credible military threat on the table,” and that such a threat should not be a bluff. “The Iranian regime must know that if they continue to deceive the world, they will pay a heavy price.”
After signing the Jerusalem Declaration, Biden also pledged that the US would “work together with our other partners to confront Iran’s aggression and destabilizing activities.”
Iran claims that its nuclear program is entirely peaceful and in response to the Jerusalem Declaration, Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi warned that Teheran was ready.
“The great nation of Iran will not accept any insecurity or crisis in the region, and Washington and its allies should know that any mistake will be met by a harsh and regrettable response from Iran,” he said.
The day after Biden left Israel, four rockets were fired from Gaza toward Israel. No group claimed responsibility, but Hamas expressed its anger over the Biden visit.
“The attempts of the American government to newly fabricate the region through involving the state of Israel, providing it with security by creating alliances between it and the Arab governments, will fail - because the nations’ stance in the same countries resists these alliances,” said Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh.
There was speculation ahead of the Biden visit that a defensive alliance against Iran would be formed involving Israel and Gulf states, but Saudi officials made it clear that they were unaware of any such discussions, and that the Kingdom was not involved in such talks.
The United Arab Emirates also publicly ruled out a defensive alliance against Iran.
The American president visited Jerusalem’s Augusta Victoria hospital on the Mount of Olives, mainly used by West Bank Palestinians, and pledged $100 million of aid for east Jerusalem hospitals. He then visited Bethlehem for talks with PA President Mahmoud Abbas and more pledges of financial assistance.
Biden publicly committed to a two-state solution based on 1967 borders with agreed land swaps, but admitted “the ground is not ripe at this moment to restart negotiations.”
“The Palestinian people deserve a state of their own that’s independent, sovereign, viable and continuous,” he told Abbas in his address from Bethlehem. “Two states for two people, both of whom have deep and ancient roots in this land.”
Amid a protest from Palestinians over the killing of Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, Biden promised “the US will continue to insist on a full and transparent accounting of her death.”
Abbas stressed that this may be one of “the last chances” to achieve a two-state solution.
“I am extending a hand to the leaders of Israel in order to make peace,” he said, adding that “the path begins with an end to the occupation.”
The Bethlehem meeting represented the highest-level talks between US and Palestinian officials since former president Donald Trump declared Jerusalem Israel’s capital and relocated the US Embassy from Tel Aviv. However, it was clear that with Israel facing an election in November, there can be no progress toward renewing the peace process at this juncture. The Biden administration has also failed to act on a promise to reopen the US consulate in Jerusalem – the de facto American embassy to the Palestinians – that was closed during the Trump era.
Despite sympathetic words from the US president, the Palestinians realize that prospects for progress toward statehood now are almost nonexistent.
The Jeddah leg of his Middle East trip was always the most important for Biden, as he strove for agreements to boost oil production and ease the global energy crisis despite a previous pledge to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” over the 2018 murder in Turkey of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents.
“Washington will not walk away and leave a vacuum filled by Russia, China or Iran,” Biden vowed in his comments to the leaders of six Gulf states, together with Egypt, Jordan and Iraq. “The United States is invested in building a positive future for the region, in partnership with all of you – and the United States is not going anywhere.”
Biden returned home to concentrate on improving the Democrats’ approval ratings ahead of the November midterms as Israel also shifted its focus to its own November election.
By the time both votes take place, the Biden visit will be long forgotten. ■
