Biden to visit Israel, West Bank, Saudi Arabia
'We're doing all we can to strengthen Israel security, prosperity and integration'
The White House on Tuesday announced the dates for US President Joe Biden’s highly anticipated first trip to the Middle East, which will include stops in Israel, the West Bank and Saudi Arabia from July 13 to July 16.
The trip will begin in Israel, where the President will meet with Israeli leaders, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement. An Israeli official said Biden will meet with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, President Isaac Herzog, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and Defence Minister Benny Gantz. Biden is also slated to visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and East Jerusalem.
A senior Biden administration official said the President would likely tour a US-funded missile defence 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 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.”
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.
Biden’s trip will also coincide with the opening of the Maccabiah Games, which is being held for the first time since 2017.
“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.
Bennett welcomed the announcement from the White House, saying the visit “will deepen the special relations as well as the strategic partnership between the countries, as well as the United States’ commitment to the security and stability of Israel and the region”.
The Israeli PM also lauded Biden’s decision to visit Saudi Arabia “and his efforts to strengthen the common interests of the states and expand regional peace”.
Biden will also travel to the West Bank, 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.
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”.
The administration official told reporters on Thursday that the President’s visit to the West Bank will be the “start of what we hope will be new and reinvigorated dialogue – both between the United States and the PA, but also between the PA and regional capitals and, most importantly, [the PA and] Israelis”.
Biden will then fly directly from Israel to Jedda – a rarely used route that requires Saudi approval and represents a tiny step toward normalisation 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 authorising 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.
Biden said on Sunday that his visit to Saudi Arabia will also address Israel’s national security.
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