The Biden administration seeks to link efforts aimed at normalization between Tel Aviv and Riyadh with discussions about the “day after” the war on Gaza, including pushing Riyadh to contribute to the reconstruction of Gaza and for normalization to include a “special process for the Palestinians.”

An Israeli report stated that Washington is seeking to link the efforts it is making within the framework of the process of normalizing relations that it seeks to establish between Riyadh and Tel Aviv, with the discussion it is engaging in with Israel about the future of the Gaza Strip, on the “day after” the ongoing Israeli war on the Strip for 78 days.

This came according to what Israeli Channel 13 reported, on Saturday evening, and pointed out that the issue was raised in the meetings held by US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, and US National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, with officials in Tel Aviv, in the past two weeks.

According to the report, Austin explained that the United States has become more “flexible” regarding the timetables for discussions aimed at normalizing relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia “than it had planned before the war,” and the channel reported that Sullivan discussed this file extensively and in detail with Israeli officials.

The channel quoted an Israeli official that it said was “familiar with communications between Washington and Tel Aviv,” saying that “the administration of US President Joe Biden wants to return to the normalization process with Saudi Arabia, and integrate it with a process specifically for the Palestinians, broader and more important than what was discussed before the war.”

The Israeli official added, "The American administration wants the Arab countries, and primarily Saudi Arabia, to play an important role in the day after the war - including investments in Gaza and the reconstruction of the Strip, and may demand from them beyond that."

He continued, "The Biden administration realizes that announcing the establishment of a Palestinian state is not something viable in the foreseeable time frame, but in order to allow the integration of the Gulf states (with regard to the Israeli and American visions for the future of the Strip), Washington believes that Israel must establish a two-state solution, even within... 'Long-term vision', in order to allow Saudi Arabia to enter the process."