Such a step would be hard to take when Arab public mistrust of Israel remains high over the scale of its military offensive during the war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza, despite a fragile ceasefire in the conflict that followed the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. The meeting is expected to seal a pivotal defense pact defining the scope of U.S. military protection for the de facto ruler of the world's top oil exporter, and to cement America's military footprint in the Gulf. The linkage between the defence pact, normalisation with Israel and Palestinian statehood has produced a complex negotiating equation, pushing Riyadh and Washington to settle for a limited defence deal in the absence of progress on the other two tracks, the Gulf sources and Western diplomats said.
Published at: 2025-11-09 21:27:34
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