This Wednesday, Joe Biden starts a trip through the Middle East, the program includes Israel, the Palestinian territories and Saudi Arabia. For the first time, a US President will fly directly from Israel to Riyadh.
Even after the UN partition plan for Palestine was passed at the end of 1947, the decision by the US government around Harry Truman to support the Jewish state was controversial. Despite the President's support, there were fears in the US that this would strain relations with the Muslim world. Truman nevertheless chose to recognize Israel after its founding on May 14, 1948. Although the US has supported Israel since then, it was not until 1974 that Richard Nixon, the first US President, came to Jerusalem. On his upcoming trip to the Middle East, Joe Biden will join this list as the seventh US President.
Biden was last in Israel six years ago, at that time as Vice President. "After his 2016 visit, he will now find a changed region," says David Itzhaki, a former Israeli negotiator in the peace talks with Egypt and Jordan. "At the time, Israel only maintained diplomatic relations with two Arab states. With the Abraham Agreements, relations with Bahrain, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates were also normalized."
Born in Baghdad, Itzhaki maintains excellent contacts in the Arab world. The 75-year-old was a special representative in the Oslo Accords between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel. "Biden's visit will focus more on the emerging Arab-Israeli military partnership to counter the Iranian threat than on a resolution to the Middle East conflict," Itzhaki believes. "This collaboration is a priority."
With a military coalition he initiated, Biden wants to lure the Gulf states away from their allies China and Russia and build an anti-Russian front there, also with a view to oil production. He will be the first US President to fly directly from Israel to Saudi Arabia to attend the Gulf Cooperation Council meeting in the kingdom. This trip triggered criticism in the United States, as Biden had criticized the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was critical of the government. But his visit to the Middle East is not only intended to deepen the integration of the Jewish state into the region. He is concerned with a US-led new regional security architecture. Experts are already talking about a "Middle East-NATO" - even if this still unofficial alliance is only about joint air defense against attacks from Iran. Because Iran threatens not only Israel, but also Arab states in the region.
"Biden will not announce any normalization between Riyadh and Jerusalem," said Tom Nides, US ambassador to Israel, in an interview with the Israeli daily Haaretz. "But this will be the beginning of a regional security process." The Saudis have always emphasized that they will only recognize Israel after the establishment of a Palestinian state. Nevertheless, there is already an approximation. Saudi Arabia could soon allow direct flights from Israel to Asia and allow Israel's Muslim minority to make pilgrimages to Mecca. In Israel, a rapprochement is still seen with skepticism, said Nides. But the alliance for joint air defense is already operational and has already successfully prevented Iranian attacks on the Jewish state and other countries.
The latest Israeli security systems are therefore also on the US President's agenda. Upon his arrival in Tel Aviv, where Prime Minister Jair Lapid will greet him, he is scheduled to meet Defense Minister Benny Gantz at Palmachim Air Force Base; It was Gantz who spilled the name of "Middle East NATO" in June: the Middle East Air Defense Alliance (MEAD), an alliance for air defense in the Middle East. Gantz called MEAD a "first element" of a shared vision to stand together against the Iranian threat. So far, the cooperation has apparently been mainly of a technical nature.
Therefore, in addition to an "Iron Dome" anti-missile battery, Biden will also visit the "Iron Beam" air defense system equipped with energy weapons. From there, head to Jerusalem to visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum and the next day to attend the opening of the 21st Jewish Olympiad, "Maccabiah."
During his 48-hour stay, he will be presented with the Medal of Honor for his services to the Jewish people by President Itchak Herzog, meet with Israeli leaders and participate in a virtual meeting with the heads of state of India and the United Arab Emirates. But Biden is also said to bridge differences with the Israeli government over curbing Iran's nuclear ambitions. Jerusalem opposes Washington-backed efforts to persuade Tehran to scale back its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions lifting. Biden asserted that Israel's security - much to the displeasure of the Palestinians - is of paramount importance to the US.
The West Bank is also on the President's itinerary. "Biden's support in the Middle East peace process is not the top priority," said Ibrahim Dalalsha, former liaison between the Palestinians and Washington. "Accordingly, talks between the US head of state and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will be tense." Dalalsha, now a peace researcher at the Horizon Center in Ramallah, explains that the US continues to support the two-state solution. But no new developments are to be expected due to Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank and splits within the PLO leadership. And Biden has provided half a billion US dollars for the Palestinian refugees. But he was unable to reverse actions by his predecessor, Donald Trump, which the PA sees as undermining its quest for a Palestinian state. "The US has failed to convince Israel to implement confidence-building measures," criticizes Dalalsha. "And now is not the time to push them for a final status solution."
The US President would like to avoid the mistakes of his predecessor Barack Obama on his trip to the Middle East. He had accepted conflicts with the Israeli government in order to reconcile the USA with the Muslim world. "This is an opportunity to strengthen Israel's national security," says David Itzhaki. "Washington's realignment of policy toward Riyadh includes an opportunity for Jerusalem to demonstrate its power potential and capitalize on the opportunities that arise from the change." The former diplomat assumes that Biden also wants to score points domestically with his visit - congressional elections will take place in the USA in the fall. "Mostly, however, it is a signal to Iran that the US is supporting its allies in the region," says Itzhaki. "And the beginning of normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia."
