JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — Countering outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said Saturday that Riyadh’s decision to open its airspace to all civilian flights had “nothing to do with diplomatic ties with Israel.” and “is not in any way a precursor to any subsequent steps” towards normalization.
Prince Faisal appeared determined to pour cold water on declared expectations in Jerusalem and Washington that the kingdom’s decision, announced on Thursday, to open its airspace to all civilian carriers – a move that will allow flights from and to Israel to China and India through much shorter and cheaper routes – marked the first step towards formal relations with Israel.
“No, this has nothing to do with diplomatic ties with Israel,” the minister said at a press conference after the GCC+3 regional summit in Jeddah. “The issue of the flyover is a decision that we have taken…in interest [of] providing a connection between the countries of the world and hopefully it will make life easier for some travelers. This is in no way a precursor to further steps.
In a speech late Friday night after two bilateral meetings here with Saudi King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Biden called the decision to fly over Riyadh “a big deal, not just symbolically, but substantively.”
“This is the first tangible step toward what I hope will ultimately be a broader normalization of relations” between Israel and Saudi Arabia, Biden added.
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On Friday morning, in a similar vein, Prime Minister Yair Lapid hailed the move to “open Saudi airspace to Israeli airlines” as “the first official step in normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia.”
“Thanks to the Saudi leadership for opening Saudi airspace. This is only the first step,” Lapid added.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Saudi foreign minister’s remarks.
US President Joe Biden bids farewell to Prime Minister Yair Lapid before departing Ben Gurion Airport in Israel on July 15, 2022 for Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (Amos Ben Gershom / GPO)
Riyadh made the open airspace announcement a day before Biden unveiled a planned withdrawal of observer forces securing a pair of Red Sea islands, which would allow them to be transferred from Egypt to Saudi Arabia. The withdrawal was US-brokered and required Israeli permission, as the presence of the observer force, along with a guarantee of freedom of transport around the islands for the Jewish state, were part of Jerusalem’s conditions for handing them over to Egypt as part of their 1979 peace d. contract.
Accordingly, the Biden administration pushed Riyadh to take what it framed as steps toward normalizing relations with Israel. The first of these allowed Israeli flights and the second allowed direct flights between Israel and Saudi Arabia for Muslim pilgrims. The latest request has yet to be finalized, with the White House forced to tone down its Friday announcement on the island’s transfer, saying it “welcomes the related steps being discussed to include direct flights from Israel to Jeddah for the Hajj next year on approved carriers.” .
Saudi Arabia’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Adel al-Jubeir, also sought to temper speculation about normalizing relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, saying in an interview with CNN on Thursday that while such a step was “possible” and a “strategic option ‘, a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians were a ‘requirement’ before Riyadh formalized its ties with Jerusalem.
Also during his Saturday news conference, Prince Faisal insisted he was unaware of any talks at the Jeddah summit about including Israel in an integrated air defense network in the Middle East, an initiative that Washington and Jerusalem have discussed discovered in recent months.
“There was no discussion of a defense alliance between the GCC and Israel or anything like that. At least I am not aware of such discussions,” said the foreign minister.
Illustration: Chief of the Armed Forces General Staff General Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, left, and army chief General Abdolrahim Mousavi visit an underground tunnel for an army drone base in the heart of the country’s western Zagros mountains, Saturday, May 28, 2022. (Iran army via AP)
Hours earlier, a senior Biden administration official, briefing the White House press office on the meeting, said Israel’s inclusion in the integrated air defense network it hopes to establish with Middle Eastern allies would be of significant benefit.
“We believe there’s a great benefit to engaging as much of the capability as possible in that region, and certainly Israel has significant air and missile defense capabilities, as they need,” the US official said, while avoiding a direct answer to a question about whether there has been any progress in the progress of the initiative.
The idea of a joint air defense network between Israel and its Arab neighbors was raised during the Negev summit of foreign ministers from Israel, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Egypt in March.
In late June, Defense Secretary Benny Gantz said an air defense pact between Israel and its regional allies to counter Iran was “already in place.”
During a briefing to lawmakers in the Knesset’s defense and foreign affairs committee, Gantz said Israel and its regional allies – led by the US – are developing a joint defense pact to defend against the drone and missile threat from Tehran and its regional proxies.
The pact, dubbed by Gantz “MEAD — Middle East Air Defense,” aims to link air defense systems to combat Iran’s growing use of drones and missiles in the Middle East.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz, right, presents US President Joe Biden with the wing of a drone intercepted by the Iron Beam laser defense system as Prime Minister Yair Lapid (left) looks on at Ben Gurion Airport, July 13, 2022. (Ariel Harmoni/ Department of Defense)
While the defense secretary expressed hope that there would be developments in the effort during Biden’s visit to the Middle East this week, a senior U.S. official told The Times of Israel in advance that no announcement should be expected while the president is in Israel or Saudi Arabia.
However, the senior administration official, briefing reporters on Saturday, said the US hoped there would be “further announcements” in the coming weeks about the integrated air defense system for the Middle East.
“Our allies and partners here in the region … have missile defense capabilities. We are responsible for contributing much of this capability, and we believe that… there is [a] a big advantage to try to see if we can network some of those capabilities,” the US official added.
Biden himself said in remarks at the GCC+3 summit that the US is “integrating air defense and early warning systems to ensure we can defeat air threats.”
Speaking more broadly about the importance of regional integration, Biden said: “The United States will build political, economic and security ties between the United States – between US partners whenever possible, while respecting the sovereignty and independent choice of each country.” Integration, interconnectedness – these are the main topics of our meeting today.”
Biden flew home from Jeddah on Saturday afternoon after a five-day trip that began in Israel and included a visit to the West Bank on Friday.
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