Global Courant 2023-05-17 22:12:10
JERUSALEM
US Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides said that the US administration is making efforts to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
In an interview with Israel’s i24 News channel, Nides said that the Biden administration is working to expand the Abraham Accords between Israel and Arab countries.
In September 2020, the United States mediated what are known as the Abraham Agreements, which paved the way for Israel to establish ties with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan.
“I work daily with Bahrainis, Moroccans, UAE, Egyptians and Jordanians on improving relations with Israel,” Nides said.
“We want to see normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel, we think this is very important and we are working with Israel to achieve that,” he said.
There was no explanation from the Saudi authorities regarding the words of the US diplomat.
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a pro-Israel US-based think tank, said on Monday that a recent opinion poll showed that only 40% of Saudis support relations with Israel.
The institute added that only 20% of Saudis view the Ibrahim Accords as “positive results for the Middle East”.
Saudi Arabia has no diplomatic relations with Israel and opposes normalization with Tel Aviv until it ends Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land.
Six Arab countries, namely Egypt in 1979, Jordan in 1994, UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan in 2020, have diplomatic relations with Israel.
*Written by Ahmed Asmar
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