White House Announces Biden Middle East Itinerary: Israel, PA And Saudi Arabia

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — US president Joe Biden is set to arrive in Israel on July 13 for his first official visit to the Jewish State since taking office nearly a year and a half ago.

According to the official announcement, Biden will visit the Middle East for two purposes: strengthening the United States’ commitment to Israel’s security and prosperity and holding a summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which will also include Egypt, Iraq and Jordan.

Biden will also visit the Palestinian Authority and Saudi Arabia during his trip to the Middle East, which will last from July 13-16. The US president was originally scheduled to visit Israel this month, but was delayed due to scheduling conflicts.

While in Israel, Biden will meet with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, Defense Minister Benny Gantz, and President Isaac Herzog. Biden is also slated to visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and East Jerusalem.

During his meeting with Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas, Biden is expected to reiterate America’s commitment to the two-state solution.

Biden is expected to push for the further development of normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia during his visit to the latter country. The formation of a new alliance of nations to counter threats emanating from Iran will also be a focus of Biden’s visit.

The US president was originally scheduled to visit Israel this month, but was delayed due to scheduling conflicts.

A senior Biden administration official briefing reporters on Thursday said the president would likely tour a US-funded missile defense system in Israel in order to highlight White House efforts to secure an additional $1 billion in funding for Iron Dome battery replenishments after the May 2021 Gaza war. Biden will also “discuss new innovations between our countries that use laser technologies to defeat missiles and other airborne threats.”

The administration official said the Israel visit will also focus on the Jewish state’s “increasing integration into the region through the Abraham Accords — normalization agreements Jerusalem signed with the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco — through the strengthening of Israel’s ties with Israel and Egypt and through the creation of a new forum established by the Biden administration that includes the US, the UAE, Israel and India — the I2U2.”

While in Israel, Biden will participate in a virtual summit of the I2U2 alongside Bennett, UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed and Indian President Narendra Modi, the US official said, in what would be the highest-level gathering of the forum to date. The leaders will discuss “the food security crisis and other areas of cooperation across hemispheres where the UAE and Israel serve as important innovation hubs.”

“He has a lifelong connection to the country and has charged [all of us with making] sure we’re doing all we can to strengthen Israel security, prosperity and integration into the larger region — both now and over the longer term.,” the US official added.

Biden will then travel to the PA, where he will meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and other Palestinian leaders. Those meetings will likely take place in Bethlehem, the US official said.

Despite Biden restoring ties with the PA and announcing the restoration of half a billion dollars in aid that had been almost entirely cut by his predecessor, Ramallah has grown increasingly frustrated with the Democratic president’s failure to follow through on his promises to reopen missions for the Palestinians in Jerusalem and Washington.

The administration official said Biden and Abbas would discuss “the ways in which we might rekindle a new political horizon that can ensure equal measures of freedom, security, prosperity and dignity to Israelis and Palestinians alike.”

Biden will then fly directly from Israel to Jedda — a rarely used route that requires Saudi approval and represents a tiny step toward normalization with the Jewish state. While in Jedda, he will participate in the annual GCC+3 summit with Gulf Cooperation Council leaders from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar in addition to Egypt, Iraq, and Jordan.

Asked if Biden will meet with Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, whom US intelligence fingered as responsible for authorizing the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the administration official said, “We can expect the president to see the crown prince.”

The meetings in Saudi Arabia will cover the UN-mediated truce in Yemen, expanding regional economic and security cooperation, deterring threats from Iran, advancing human rights and ensuring global energy and food security, the official said.

“I think the president will discuss some pretty innovative initiatives we have ongoing in CENTCOM in the Red Sea — some unique naval task forces, which we’ll discuss on the security side,” the official said. Biden officials are reportedly working to form a joint defense infrastructure between Israel and its Arab neighbors against Iran.

After promising during his presidential campaign to treat Saudi Arabia like a “pariah state,” Biden has  recently changed his tune and worked to warm ties with Riyadh against the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. US-led international sanctions against Moscow have led to dramatic spikes in US oil costs and Washington has been pushing the Saudis to help compensate by producing more oil to replace the sanctioned Russian crude.

The administration official highlighted the recent decision by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, where Riyadh is a leading member, to raise its planned supply increases this summer by 50 percent.