Biden makes his big Middle East push: a Saudi Arabia-Israel pact

News Snapshot:

After months of shuttle diplomacy between Washington and Riyadh, the shape of the Biden administration’s blockbuster plan to normalise relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia – and in doing so reshape the region’s geopolitics – is coming into view. So are the obstacles. “There’s a rapprochement under way,” President Joe Biden said at the end of July. It was a cautious shift in tone from the president, who only weeks earlier had downplayed the chances of a diplomatic breakthrough. The terms are complex. Saudi Arabia would open formal relations with Israel, bringing hopes that other Muslim nations would follow suit....