Saudi crown prince, US national security adviser meet on Gaza, bilateral deal

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met to discuss a broad bilateral agreement and Israel’s war in Gaza, the Saudi state news agency reported on Sunday.
A statement read, the meeting in the Saudi city of Dhahran reviewed “the semi-final version of the draft strategic agreements between the two countries, which are almost being finalised.”
Washington and Riyadh have been discussing U.S. security guarantees and civilian nuclear assistance as part of a broader deal that the U.S. hopes would lead to normalising Saudi-Israeli relations.
The statement said, the de facto Saudi leader and President Joe Biden’s top security aide also discussed the need to find a “credible track for bringing about the two-state solution” for Israel and the Palestinians, stop the war against Hamas militants in Gaza and facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid.
The Biden administration and Saudi Arabia have been seeking to finalise the nuclear agreement, Reuters reported early this month, even as Israel-Saudi normalisation, part of a Middle East “grand bargain”, remains elusive.