Newsweek reports on Saudi Arabia’s readiness for a new deal with Trump.
As the Middle East prepares for the return of US President-elect Donald Trump to the White House, Saudi Arabia is seeking a new deal with Washington that reflects the country’s geopolitical position and the vast changes that have occurred in the volatile region over the past four years, Newsweek reported.
According to Newsweek, Trump’s victory in the recent US election came as talks between Washington and Riyadh over a major deal had stalled; an agreement that would have included US security guarantees for Saudi Arabia and greater cooperation in various fields, including nuclear development (Saudi Arabia). At the same time, the Joe Biden administration was also seeking to establish diplomatic relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia within the framework of a series of agreements known as the “Abraham Accords” that Trump signed with four Arab countries in 2020.
According to Saudi observers, if Trump seeks to extend his legacy of normalizing Arab relations with Israel to secure an agreement with Riyadh; A legacy that the current administration has shunned, the next US president should use his close ties with Israel to advance the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Salman al-Nassari, a prominent Saudi political analyst, told Newsweek: “There is a very important and urgent issue that the Trump administration needs to understand; it would be a delusion for them to assume that Saudi Arabia will join the Abraham Accords for free.”
According to the Saudi analyst, “The establishment of a Palestinian state is an absolute and firm requirement and prerequisite for normalizing relations with Israel.”