The administration of US President Joe Biden had been pushing hard in recent months to get Saudi Arabia to take a similar step.
Under de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, son of aging King Salman, Riyadh had set conditions for normalization from Washington, including security guarantees and help in developing a civilian nuclear program.
In an interview with Fox News last month, Prince Mohammed said that “every day we are getting closer to an agreement”, although he also stressed that the Palestinian issue was “very important” to Riyadh.
“We need to solve that part. We need to make life easier for Palestinians,” he said.
Even before the war began, many analysts saw the deal as a far-reaching step forward.
Saudi analyst Hesham Alghannam said, “Normalization between the Kingdom and Israel is a US initiative and project that the Kingdom welcomes, if the US can reach an agreement to address the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians – which the Palestinians will accept. “
“In fact, Israel was not prepared to reach an agreement with the Palestinians that would give them their minimum needs.”
Joost Hilterman, Middle East director of the International Crisis Group, said, “There is no way that any Arab country can seriously engage with Israel to normalize relations when their people see what is happening in Gaza”.