Anyone who expected a dramatic breakthrough in Israeli-Saudi relations during US President Joe Biden's visit to the kingdom was disappointed, as was predictable. The Saudis still aren't ready for far-reaching moves, and are moving forward slowly. On the face of it, they are also sticking to their standard policy of recent years – that progress toward normalization will be achievable only after the Saudi peace proposal is implemented, including the establishment of a Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital.
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But behind this official stance, there is another Saudi Arabia. One proof of that is the approval it gave on Friday for Israeli flights to use its airspace. Other evidence is still under wraps, from senior Israeli officials visiting Saudi Arabia to a long series of deals, mostly related to security and technology, and other areas.
The thawed ties between Biden and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will certainly help this progress. Officially, both sides stuck to their guns: Biden said in a briefing that he had scolded MBS about the Khashoggi murder affair, whereas MBS' staff said that he had taken the president to task about the death of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh.
We can assume that notwithstanding these official versions, the atmosphere was much more productive. The US wants the Saudis to increase their oil output to help bring down global oil prices, and the Saudis want improved relations with Washington. They see Israel as a vital conduit to the Americans' ear, and a key player in regional stability. The two countries – along with most of the nations in the region, whose leaders took part in a conference along with Biden – will try to promote the common axis against hostile entities in the Middle East, primarily Iran.
While Saudi Arabia is careful to keep its ties with Israel a secret, the states that belong to the Abraham Accords continue to add to them. IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi's upcoming visit to Morocco is another facet to the growing bilateral security ties between Israel and Morocco. Like his visit to Bahrain, Kochavi will be welcomed as an honored guest in Rabat. Morocco wants aid from Israel, and approval for business deals in a variety of fields, some of which will move ahead during the visit.
And while Israel's diplomatic-security apparatus is focused on regional strategy, as always, it finds itself dragged back to local affairs. On Saturday night, four rockets were fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip, a reminder that the Palestinians aren't going anywhere. It appears that Hamas was not responsible for the rockets, directly or indirectly, but the defense establishment is concerned that residents of Ashkelon had to run for shelter in the middle of the night for a second time in a month.
As of Saturday night, the motive for the rocket attack wasn't clear. Some say they were an expression of the Palestinians' disappointment at the Biden visit, but the IDF tends to connect them to the comparative anarchy in Gaza and the growing amount of weapons there. If the second theory is correct, it's not clear why the rockets weren't fired when Biden was still here, in an attempt to overshadow the visit.
In response, the IDF implemented its policy since Operation Guardian of the Walls and carried out airstrikes against key Hams targets – in this case, an underground facility used to produce the raw materials for long-range rockets and a second facility. These strikes had multiple goals: to respond to the rocket fire; to deter Hamas from further actions and force the organization to stop the rocket fire; to establish Hamas as the sole entity in charge of Gaza; and keep it from building up its military capabilities.
If there is no further rocket fire, Israel will want to keep the 14,000 Gazans who work in Israel employed as a method of improving the quality of life in Gaza and therefore applying pressure on Hamas.
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