Blinken: ‘Saudi Arabia, Israel normalisation possible after Gaza war’

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on Thursday that he still hopes to reach a normalisation agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia before the end of President Joe Biden’s term in January.

During a press conference in Haiti, Blinken added: “I think if we can get the ceasefire in Gaza, there remains an opportunity through the balance of this administration to move forward on normalisation.”

Blinken called on Israel and Hamas to reach a ceasefire agreement in Gaza and find solutions to “remaining issues”.

He noted: “Based on what I’ve seen, 90 per cent is agreed, but there are a few critical issues that remain where we need to be able to get agreement, and they really go to how certain aspects of the agreement would be implemented. And I think much of this has been discussed in recent days, including the Philadelphi Corridor, including some of the exact specifics of how hostages and prisoners are exchanged. So that remains, but pretty much everything else is there.”

Since 7 October, Israel has been waging a devastating genocidal war on Gaza, killing and wounding more than 135,000 Palestinians, most of whom are women and children. As a result, there are also 10,000 people missing amid massive destruction and deadly famine.

The US is attempting to stop the Israeli aggression on Gaza, implement a prisoner exchange deal and reach a deal that will ultimately lead to “peace in the Middle East” that is based on normalising relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. However, Saudi Arabia stipulates that moving forward with the normalisation agreement requires finding a path to a permanent solution to the Palestinian issue based on the establishment of a state on the 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital.

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