Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday said normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia is ready to go, but requires following through on ending the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip and a commitment to a pathway to a Palestinian state.

Blinken, speaking at the Atlantic Council, said negotiations to achieve a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas could happen in the next few hours or next few days, a first, critical step in the plan the Biden administration has laid out to capitalize on major power balances shifting in the Middle East.

“We stand here today with a historic window of opportunity still open,” Blinken said.

The Trump administration failed in its first term to secure ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia under the banner of their Abraham Accords, which marked a major shift in Israel’s integration into the region with ties established with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

The Biden administration has said it was on the brink of achieving Israeli-Saudi ties under the Abraham Accords, but........

© The Hill