It will pass – optimism is high but the window of opportunity will close soon

While Israel believes there is an opportunity to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia, the window for reaching such an agreement could close soon, according to Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen. On Sunday Cohen said that there was a short “window of opportunity” for the Jewish state to enter into a U.S.-brokered normalization agreement with Saudi Arabia. “We are very optimistic about the possibility of achieving such an agreement. This is an achievable agreement, after which more countries will follow,” said the Israeli foreign minister. He added that Saudis reportedly “were also interested in such an agreement,” which “will not be part” of the Abraham Accords and would include other countries as well. He did not specify which countries but said that talks on such an agreement were taking place, mainly via the U.S. Biden administration. In 2020, Israel signed the historic Abraham Accords peace agreements to normalize relations with four Arab nations: Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Sudan. The accords were brokered by then-U.S. President Donald Trump's administration. Cohen said that Israel estimates that “there is a window of opportunity until March 2024” for an agreement with Saudi Arabia, “after which the political system in the US will focus on the presidential elections” to take place in the fall of that year.