A normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia as well as Palestinian statehood could be achievable in the near term, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“We are actively pursuing a path to normalization and integration with our regional partners,” he told the Forum on Tuesday.
“The Biden administration sees a future where Israelis and Arabs can live in peace, Palestinians have a state of their own and Israel’s security is assured,” Sullivan said.
“It is not impractical, it can be done, the pieces are there to be put together to achieve this outcome and not years down the road but in the nearer term,” Sullivan said.
His words were part of a series of statements the Biden administration has made about its intention to pursue a peace process once a permanent ceasefire to the Gaza war is in place.
Did October 7 destroy any chance at normalization with Saudi?
It has largely been presumed that the Hamas attack on October 7, destroyed any option for US President Joe Biden to continue work on regional peace agreements that include Israel, in light of his 2024 run to secure a second term.
Sullivan said that before the October 7 attack, the US was focused on diplomatic efforts that would lead to a two-state resolution to the conflict, particularly through its push for a deal with Saudi Arabia that would have included normalized ties with Israel.
“A central diplomatic initiative of the Biden administration was to try to generate normalization and as a critical element of a normalization package generate both tangible benefits for the Palestinian people and a political horizon for two states,” Sullivan explained.
“It was our judgment that was to be that was going to be the most viable pathway to make progress on what had been an intractable problem. That going through another round of direct negations was not going to do it, so coming in this indirect way was most likely to generate this result.
“Going through a direct round of negotiations was not going to do it,” Sullivan explained. He described how earlier last year, in 2023 he went to Ramallah and sat “with President Abbas and talked through this play, long before October 7 took place.”
“The strategy post-October 7 does not deviate very much from that, we still want to see normalization tied to a political horizon for the Palestinian people,” he said.
“The current Israeli government has expressed quite strong views publicly about the Palestinian question. There are elements and voices in that government that, the US government has come out quite strongly and criticized for certain statements and stances they have taken,” Sullivan explained.
“Ultimately the Israeli government will have to make its choice about how best to guarantee and ensure the security of the state of Israel. It is President Biden’s firm conviction that the best way to do that is two states with an Israeli security guarantee,” he said.
When Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke in the weeks and months leading up to October 7, the Palestinian question was a key topic of discussion, Sullivan explained.
Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan told the Davos forum that normalization with Israel was possible, but only in conjunction with Palestinian statehood.
“We agree that regional peace includes peace for Israel but that can only happen through peace for Palestinians through a Palestinian state,”
“This is something that we have been working on with the US administration,” Farhan said, warning that Israel’s failure to halt the Gaza war “is putting the prospect for regional peace at risk.”
Farhan pointed to the high cost of the war for Palestinians. Hamas has asserted that close to 24,000 Palestinians have been killed in war-related violence. Israel has said that some 9,000 of those fatalities are combatants.
He clarified that both Israel and Hamas must commit to a ceasefire.
“There is a pathway toward a much better future for the region, that is peace and we are fully committed to that,” Farhan said, adding that within that wider regional context, his country would recognize Israel.