The American government is very determined to reach a peace agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia in the coming year. The hot-button issue between Israel and the Americans, as well as in the domestic political system, is the possible compensation to the Palestinians if the normalization deal comes to fruition.
Israel National News has learned from an American government source that one of the offers that were raised in an attempt to reach normalization is an Israeli agreement to recognize a Palestinian state and, at the same time to transfer parts of Area C, which is under Israeli military control, to Area B, where the authority is split between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
The offer will most probably be declined since these two compensations will lead to the dissolution of the government by Netanyahu's right-wing partners.
MK Avichai Buaron (Likud) reacted to the report, "It sounds baseless that someone in Israel would agree to give up another centimeter of Area C. I don't believe it. You have to understand the Gav Hahar region (in Samaria) is 10% to 15% Israeli. The PA is choking us since it builds on the edges of Area B near Israeli communities and roads with the aim of choking the Israelis. This is political construction, not actual construction for residences.
Giving up more land would mean trapping the Jewish settlement on the mountain and totally losing Israeli control. This is precisely what the PA wants. That the Jews in the Gav Hahar region disappeared. I don't believe that someone in the Israeli leadership would want that."
In recent months an interesting geo-political race has been unfolding: on one end, the warming relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia and the payoffs between the two, such as free trade and defense deals, and on the other end, the White Houses race to leave a substantial impression on President Biden's foreign policy ahead of the upcoming presidential elections.
The American administration has noticed its lightened grip on the Middle East, both in the warming of Iranian-Saudi ties, the repetitive strikes on its bases in Syria by militias, and Iran's 'lack of will' to give up to Western sanctions after former President Trump unilaterally pulled out of the nuclear deal in 2018.
This whole game leads to the fact that an Israeli normalization deal with the "protector of the holy sites," funder of Hamas in Gaza, Judea, and Samaria, whose net gains from SAUDI ARAMCO are assessed to be higher than those of Apple, Meta, and Microsoft together, would bring the US back to the playing field.
In return for such a move in the future, which would create a significant attack route for Israel against the Iranian nuclear facilities, the Saudis want, first and foremost, a significant defense deal, advanced arms, and a civil nuclear energy program from the Americans.
These are not simple matters for Israel, which could lose its strategic advantage in the Middle East. In addition, Iranian uranium enrichment in Saudi territory can bring about the nuclearization of the entire region.