Joe Biden punches Riyadh’s crown prince and strongman, Mohamed Bin Salman. Photo: Reuters
US President Joe Biden he clapped his fist in greeting with the crown prince and de facto governor of Saudi Arabia, the controversial Mohamed bin Salman, before meeting together as part of his official visit to Saudi Arabia, where he arrived on Friday.
Bin Salman approached the vehicle in which Biden drove to Al Salman Royal Palace from Jeddah Airport. Both clenched their fists, in times of coronavirus resurgence, and walked together inside the building under the watchful eye of the cameras.
The meeting between Bin Salmany Biden spawned many expectations and White House reporters have been wondering for days if the U.S. president was going to shake hands with the crown prince, in what was perceived as a negative gesture after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Bin Salman guides Biden inside the Al Salman building. Photo: Reuters
Biden would not advance if he wanted to mention Khashoggi’s murder in 2018 during his meeting with Bin Salman, to whom US intelligence accuses of approving the operation who ended his life in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where he had gone to do some paperwork.
The president intends to talk about the importance of respecting human rights and oil production, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said.
Biden was supposed to meet the Saudi monarch King Salman bin Abdelaziz first and then bin Salman.
Biden landed this Friday in Saudi Arabia, a major oil-producing country he had promised to treat as a “pariah” during the US election campaign, on a trip that could also strengthen relations between the Saudis and Israel.
Biden landed this Friday in Saudi Arabia, a major oil producing country. Photo: Reuters
Saudi state media showed images of the presidential plane at the airport of the coastal city of Jeddah (west), coming from Israel, making Biden the first American leader. in traveling directly from Israel to an Arab country which does not officially recognize the latter.
His predecessor, Republican Donald Trump, made this trip in 2017 but on the contrary.
Shortly before its transition to that Gulf monarchy, Israel said it had “no objections” to transfer of two islets strategic for Saudi Arabia and announced the opening of its airspace to “all airlines”, including the Israeli one.
Biden called the decision was “historic” of Riyadh and Israel of the “important step”.
The two initiatives could, according to analysts, pave the way for a possible rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Israel, a country that in 2020 regularized its ties with two allied countries of the Saudi kingdom: United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
After two days of openly warm exchanges with the Israeli prime minister and his more austere meeting with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, Biden begins now the most strategic and also the most complex section of his trip, as Saudi Arabia is an oil power, accused of serious human rights violations.
The governor of Mecca receives the president of the United States. Photo: Reuters
Both countries are strategic allies, but their relationship has experienced ups and downs at the rate of various crises.
When Biden was a candidate, he promised maintain a “pariah” status in the kingdom After the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and after being elected, he declassified a report pointing to Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman in the plot to end the journalist’s life, which Riyadh has always denied.
But this Friday Biden will meet the crown prince, who actually rules the kingdom, and his ministers, in a photo that can go wrong in the United States ahead of the November elections.
Petroleum
Biden must find a balance between staying true to his defense of human rights and convincing the oil kingdom to turn on the crude oil production tap. to lower fuel prices and anchor inflation.
Biden is expected to meet with Arab leaders at the Gulf Cooperation Council meeting in the Saudi city to discuss the sensitive issue of oil prices.
Before traveling to Saudi Arabia, Biden visited Augusta Victoria hospital in East Jerusalem, a part of the Israeli-occupied Holy City, where he announced $ 100 million in aid to the local hospital network.
Subsequently, he met with the leader of the Authority in the occupied West Bank.
Clarin editorial staff with information from agencies
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Source: Clarin
