Is Israeli-Saudi normalization end or means?

The path to a peace treaty between Israel and Saudi Arabia is fraught with prerequisites unrelated to Israel or peace.

Quoting Biden officials, the Wall Street Journal reported that Israel must first help rally US Senate support for an American-Saudi defense treaty that ensures Saudi security and American interests — including distancing Riyadh from Beijing.

Next, Israel must concede territory for Palestinian self-determination even before Hamas, which pledges to annihilate the Jewish state, is eradicated. Only then will Saudi Arabia normalize ties with Israel – and, even then, solely on its own behalf, not representing the Arab League or the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

In January 2023, when Saudi Arabia first floated the idea of bilateral peace with Israel regardless of the Palestinian track, Riyadh did so in line with a shift in Riyadh’s foreign policy that had started with the accession of Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman (MBS) in 2016. Riyadh started prioritizing “Saudi First” over leadership in the Arab and Muslim worlds.

Along similar lines, the kingdom minimized its intervention in Lebanon and Syria, among other places, deeming these countries strategically insignificant.

Riyadh’s approach aligned with the Trump administration’s outside-in peace model, which pursued bilateral peace treaties between Israel and individual Arab governments as a prelude to Israel peace with Palestinians. But the Biden administration reverted to the older inside-out formula of “Palestinians first,” Israeli peace with the Arabs later. Biden’s view of Arab peace with Israel thus clashed with Riyadh’s priorities.

The gap between Washington and Riyadh was on display in January. While the Saudis said they would normalize ties with