President Joe Biden arrived in Saudi Arabia on Friday to discuss energy supply, human rights, and security cooperation on a trip designed to reset the US relationship with a country he once pledged to make a “pariah” on the world stage.
Energy and security interests prompted the president and his aides to decide not to isolate the kingdom, the world’s top oil exporter and regional powerhouse that has been strengthening ties with Russia and China.
But the US national security adviser dampened expectations of any immediate oil supply boost to help bring down high costs of gasoline and ease the highest US inflation in four decades. The White House said Biden would hold a bilateral meeting with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz at the royal palace in Jeddah and then the president and his team would have a working session with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Saudi ministers at the palace.
Meanwhile, Joe Biden said during a trip to the occupied West Bank on Friday that Palestinians need to see a path towards statehood, even if hopes for a peace process with Israel remain bleak. Biden’s visit to Bethlehem came ahead of a flight to Saudi Arabia, whose leaders on Friday changed aviation rules in an apparent gesture of openness towards Israel.
The president’s visit to the Saudi city of Jeddah will follow talks with Abbas, the latest high-level diplomatic meeting after those with the Israeli leadership on Thursday.
Biden reiterated his administration’s commitment to a two-state solution to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying there “must be a political horizon that the Palestinian people can actually see”.
“I know that the goal of the two states seems so far away,” he said in Bethlehem, alongside Abbas.
The Palestinian president said he was “taking steps” to improve the bilateral relationship and aimed to see the US consulate to Palestinians reopen in Jerusalem, which was shuttered by Trump. “The key to peace begins with recognising the state of Palestine,” Abbas said. With Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations moribund since 2014, the US delegation has been focusing on economic measures.
