image copyrightReuters
photo comment,
Saudi Arabia is seeking concessions from the United States, including security guarantees and support for a civilian nuclear program
3 hours ago
The Financial Times published a report on the future of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, President Joe Biden’s administration’s pressure for normalization between the two countries, as well as Saudi Arabia’s goals and demands to complete this deal.
The newspaper said, in a report by its correspondents, James Shooter from Tel Aviv, and Samer Al-Atroush from Dubai, that the United States is working to normalize relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
According to the newspaper, US President Joe Biden sent one of his closest advisers to the Saudi capital last week to discuss the issue, but Israeli National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said that “there is still a long way to go” to establish relations between the two countries.
Biden’s efforts come as the US presidential elections approach next year, and the US president said during a meeting with donors for his campaign on Friday that “convergence may be close.” This is the second trip to Riyadh by a US official in a matter of weeks.
Israeli Chancellor Hanegbi revealed in an interview with the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation on Monday that the full agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel is not under discussion, but there was a “positive surprise a few months ago when the White House said . . . that it was making efforts to reach an agreement with the Saudis.”
Diplomats say Saudi Arabia is seeking concessions from the United States, including security guarantees, support for a civilian nuclear program and access to weapons, in return for normalizing relations with Israel.
Saudi officials said the kingdom would also need a major positive step from Israel toward the Palestinians, though they did not say what that would entail.
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman wrote after his meeting with Biden last week that Saudi demands of Israel could include a halt to settlement expansion and a pledge not to annex the West Bank, which the Palestinians want to be the heart of a future state but which Israel has occupied since. 1967.
In response to a question about possible Israeli concessions, Hanegbi said that Israel would not accept “anything that undermines its security.” But he said that his country would not worry about the possibility of Saudi Arabia developing civilian nuclear capabilities.
Two people familiar with the discussions said there is hope a deal could be reached this year, before the Biden administration gets busy campaigning.
Saudi Arabia considers itself a leader in the Muslim world, so it has greater obligations than other Arab countries that have already signed deals with Israel, such as the UAE.
The Kingdom put forward an Arab peace initiative to Israel in 2002, which includes Saudi recognition of the existence of Israel in exchange for allowing the establishment of a Palestinian state, and Saudi leaders publicly affirm their adherence to this position.
But Orit Struck, an ultra-nationalist from the far-right religious Zionist party who serves as minister for national missions, said the Israeli government would not make any concessions in the West Bank, referring to the complications any deal would impose on the Netanyahu government.
She emphasized that there is consensus among all right-wing parties. The withdrawals and the settlement freeze in Judea and Samaria (which is the biblical name for the West Bank) have ended.
Orit Struck added that Netanyahu is a responsible prime minister and will not sell the Land of Israel in exchange for a visit to the White House.
image copyrightGetty Images
photo comment,
The UAE has chosen Sultan Al Jaber, the head of the country’s largest oil and gas company, to chair the COP28 climate summit
Thorny issues for the UAE
The Guardian newspaper published a special report that includes a leak of a list of “sensitive issues” of the government system in the UAE that will affect its presidency of the United Nations Climate Summit COP 28.
The newspaper said in a report by Damien Carrington, editor of environmental affairs, that it had obtained a list of “sensitive and thorny issues” for the United Arab Emirates, which is running the upcoming UN climate summit.
It identifies the “strategic messages” approved by the UAE government to be used in response to media questions about these issues, which include increasing the UAE’s oil and gas production, and even human trafficking.
In its messages, the UAE will avoid referring to fossil fuels, oil or gas, but mention renewable energy and hydrogen.
The document also lists responses to a long series of sensitive non-climate and energy issues, including: money laundering, war crimes in Yemen, political prisoners, surveillance and espionage, LGBT rights, freedom of expression, women’s rights and human trafficking. She points out that homosexuality is illegal in the UAE, and journalists must be registered with the country.
The Guardian revealed in April that the UAE has the third largest expansion plans for oil and gas production in the world.
COP28’s key messages include: “We need to reduce emissions in the systems we depend on today.” A former UN climate official in May denounced the focus on emissions alone, rather than on burning fossil fuels, as “dangerous”.
Among other sensitive climate-related issues, COP28 chairman Sultan Al-Jaber is also the CEO of the UAE national oil company, Adno, and has come under fire for this dual role.
The document also talks about ADNOC’s failure to disclose its emissions or publish a sustainability report since 2016.
The only reference to fossil fuels in the lengthy document is in a section titled “The UAE as a Hydrocarbon Economy.” The response cited is that “The UAE is helping build the energy system of the future while reducing the carbon intensity of oil and gas.”
The carbon intensity of oil or gas is the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per unit during the production of the fuel, not including the much larger emissions emitted when the fuel is burned.
The item “climate ambition” was listed as a major issue, and the document indicates that the UAE has increased the ambition of its pledges recently. However, the pledge will allow an increase in the UAE’s carbon emissions until 2030.
The independent Climate Action Tracker consortium classifies the UAE’s plans as “inadequate”.
The UAE’s per capita carbon emissions, which are among the highest in the world, were also listed as an issue. “We recognize that we have a lot of room for improvement, which is why our leadership has set us on a path to net zero carbon emissions by 2050,” the document says.
Pascoe Sabedo, at Corporate Observatory Europe and co-coordinator of the Kick Out the Big Polluters Coalition, which groups more than 450 organisations, said, “This document contains irritatingly designed talking points that tear apart the green façade behind which the fossil-fuel-dependent summit presidency hides.” Anyone reading this should be concerned.
He added that the UN climate talks had become a trade fair for the oil and gas industry, not a leader in climate action.
#Saudi #Arabia #normalization #Israel #Financial #Times #BBC #News #Arabic
2023-08-02 02:01:21
