Biden Trip Lauds Israeli-Saudi Deals // FAI ONLINE

US President Joe Biden finished a 4-day trip to the Middle East on Saturday, after visiting both Israel and Saudi Arabia for a series of key diplomatic meetings. The president met Israel’s new prime minister and sought to thaw relations with Saudi Arabia, after almost 18 months of tension between the Biden Administration and the government of the Saudi crown prince, Muhammad bin Salman.

The president landed in Israel on Wednesday, where he was met by Yair Lapid, the Jewish State’s new prime minister. Their agenda included the announcement of two indirect deals between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which do not yet have direct diplomatic relations, in ongoing talks brokered by Egypt and the United States. Israel gave the green light to the formal transfer of Tiran and Sanafir, two islands in strategic positions at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba, where Egyptian troops have been stationed to mediate Israel’s maritime freedom through the Strait of Tiran since the Israeli-Egyptian peace agreement of 1979. Historically, the islands belonged to Saudi Arabia, and Egypt agreed in principle to return them to Saudi control several years ago, but were prevented from doing so by the conditions of the 1979 treaty. As part of last week’s agreement, Egypt agreed to withdraw their forces to the Sinai Peninsula, while the Saudi royals agreed to honor Israeli maritime access through the strait to the Red Sea. The return of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia are considered a major milestone in the long, arduous process of establishing diplomatic normalization between Israel and the Saudi Kingdom.

The Biden Administration also announced that it had successfully brokered another agreement to allow Muslims in Israel to make the Hajj to Mecca, an Islamic pilgrimage required of all Muslim males at least once in a lifetime. The Saudis requited the Israeli concession with one of their own, granting permission to Israeli air carriers to use Saudi airspace.

The Gaza-based terrorist group Hamas made their feelings known regarding the latest Israeli-Saudi overture, releasing a press statement condemning the accord and firing several rockets from Gaza into Israel on Friday night. One rocket was intercepted by the Iron Dome system as it approached the city of Ashkelon. The Israeli military responded with airstrikes against an underground Hamas weapons factory the following day, as well as a structure used by Hamas near Gaza City.

Meanwhile on Friday, President Biden landed in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah in advance of a summit hosted by the Kingdom for the Gulf Cooperation Council +3. Biden joined the leaders of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Egypt, Jordan and Iraq at the round table, reassuring them that the US will not abandon the Mideast region "and leave a vacuum to be filled by China, Russia or Iran," but also declaring the days of regional ground wars and large occupying forces to be over. The council reaffirmed its commitment to fighting Islamic terrorism across the Middle East, supporting humanitarian efforts in Afghanistan, and declared its ongoing support for a two-state solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The growing regional threat of Iran was key topic of the summit, with President Biden reiterating the long-standing US position to prevent the development of an Iranian nuclear weapon, while also admitting that his administration is still seeking a diplomatic solution to the issue. The president also addressed Iran’s aggression in the Strait of Hormuz, a key Mideast shipping lane, where increasingly dangerous Iranian naval activity has ratcheted tensions in the region even further. The Saudi foreign minister later described the summit’s discussion of the Iranian nuclear issue as “positive,” while admitting that it did not achieve “concrete results.”

Saudi crown prince Muhammad bin Salman also met with President Biden during the visit, discussing recent contention between the US administration and the Saudi royal family, including Biden’s characterization of the Saudi Kingdom as a “pariah” state, and bin Salman’s alleged role in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. in a joint statement, Biden praised the Saudi delegation for leading OPEC’s decision to increase oil output, as well as its financial commitment of $10 billion USD for international food price relief and $100 million USD for a new network of hospitals in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

As incidents of war, strife, earthquakes and famines continue to mount across the Middle East, we would ask the Maranatha global community to continue in prayer for unreached people groups across the region. We pray for the schemes of the enemy to be restrained, for divine wisdom to be granted to international leaders, and for each calamity and catastrophe to open “wide, effectual doors” for laborers of the Mideast harvest fields.

Maranatha!