Washington, DC - U.S. President Donald Trump said that building formal relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel would be a "dream", but he hopes the kingdom can do it "in his own time."
The White House revealed a series of economic and defense conventions with Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, involving hundreds of millions of dollars, but any mention of Israel was an obvious announcement.
Analysts say the so-called “normalization” drive occupies the attitude of his predecessor, Joe Biden, between Saudi Arabia and Israel, but the current U.S. president is shifting focus elsewhere.
“The Trump administration has made it clear that they are willing to reach a key agreement with Saudi Arabia without the normalization of Saudi Arabia,” said Anna Jacobs, a non-resident researcher at the Arab Gulf National Institute.
“This may reflect the frustration of the Trump administration’s Israeli military action across the region, especially in Gaza.”
Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a Middle East fellow at Baker College, also said Trump has realized that as the ongoing war between Gaza and Israel continues, the “time is wrong” in the Palestinian state, although the emphasis on Biden has fueled an effort.
"I think the White House has finally admitted that it is impossible to reach a normalization agreement at this time," Coates Ulrichsen told Al Jazeera.
During his first term, Trump managed to hold an Abraham agreement between Israel and several Arab countries, including the United Arab Emirates, which established formal relations with U.S. allies independently of the Palestine issue.
However, these agreements have not been successful in resolving the Israel-Palestinian conflict, which is evidence of the outbreak in Gaza in October 2023.
But even before the war began, Israel had been intensifying military attacks on the Palestinians and expanded illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, further weakening the prospects for a conflict resolution between the two countries.
Despite the obvious shortcomings, Biden added Saudi Arabia to the Abraham agreement as the focus of his Middle East agenda, with U.S. officials saying they worked hard to ensure a deal was reached even in the war in the Gaza war until the last few days of the administration.
Biden repeatedly claims there is no evidence that Hamas launched an attack on Israel in 2023 to thwart the agreement between the Saudis and Israel.
Nevertheless, the day before he left the office, Biden boasted that his Middle East policy created “opportunities for the future of normalization and integration between Israel and all Arab neighbors, including Saudi Arabia.”
U.S. officials and media reported that the never-realized Biden deal would reach a security deal between Riyadh and Washington and help Saudi Arabia in a bid to establish a civil nuclear program in exchange for normalization with Israel.
A major symptom under this push is Saudi Arabia’s support for the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which demonstrates recognition of Israel’s viable Palestinian state.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explicitly rejected the "peaceful land" framework and instead reached an agreement with the Arab states that bypassed the Palestinians.
"The Israeli government will not even provide verbal service to the idea of a two-state solution, which makes it impossible for Saudi Arabia to seriously consider moving forward through normalization," said Jacob of the Institute of Gulf State University of Arabia.
“The Trump administration, at least for now, already knows that it is no longer on the table.”
In Riyadh, Trump announced a deal to deepen security cooperation with Saudi Arabia.
The White House said the $14.2 billion deal would provide Saudi Arabia with "standard-of-the-art combat equipment and services" from American companies.
It also includes “wide training and support to build the capacity of the Saudi Armed Forces, including strengthening Saudi service academies and military medical services”.
Experts say that while weapons and training deals don’t meet NATO-like common defense agreements, which may be part of aligned with Israel, they took a bite from the American-backed carrots provided to the kingdom for normalization.
"Today's announcement really further deepens the link between Saudi Arabia and U.S. security and defense interests," Coates Ulrichsen said.
According to health authorities, Trump's visit to the region was due to Israel's commitment not only to continue, but to expand its devastating war on Gaza, which has created more than 52,900 Palestinians.
Khaled Elgindy, a visiting scholar at Georgetown University, noted that Riyadh described the Israeli atrocities in Gaza as "genocide."
"The Saudis have no mean words; they have not backed down," Elgindi told Al Jazeera. "After accusing Israel of genocide, they can't move towards normalization of Israel now. It's ridiculous."
After his trip to Saudi Arabia, Trump will travel to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates as part of his first foreign trip to his presidency since the funeral of Pope Francis last month. Israel is not on the itinerary.
For Coates Ulrichsen and others, Trump's obvious Israeli snub reflects uneasiness in the U.S.-Israel coalition.
"This may indicate that the White House is seeing greater value in deepening its business and strategic relations with the Gulf countries as Israel remains in a woeful conflict," Coates Ulrichsen told Al Jazeera.
Despite U.S. military and diplomatic support for Israel, tensions between the Trump administration and the Netanyahu administration have become more evident in recent weeks.
Although Israeli leaders opposed negotiations with Tehran, Trump confirmed talks with Iran on his nuclear program during Netanyahu's visit to the White House.
Last week, the U.S. president also announced a ceasefire with Houthis. The deal did not call for an end to the Yemeni group's attack on Israel.
When Trump spoke in Riyadh on Tuesday, Huthis fired another missile at Israel - part of a campaign they said was to force the end of the war on Gaza.
The Trump administration also worked with mediators in Qatar and Egypt to secure the release of U.S. citizen Edan Alexander, who served in the Israeli military, and was captured by Hamas in the October 7 attack on Israel. According to reports from Israeli media, Israel is excluded from these speeches.
Elgindy of Georgetown University said the obvious tensions are not just "a bump on the road", but their impact on U.S.-Israel relations remains to be seen.
"Trump made it clear in words that our interests are not the same as Israel," he said. "It's important because Biden didn't do that."
Currently, Trump remains committed to Israel's military aid, as it intensifies bombing and hunger movements in Gaza.
The U.S. president is suppressing the crackdown of Israeli critics at home, especially on university campuses.
Experts say Trump is moving forward with his vision for the region despite skipping Israel and determining normalization during his trip to the Middle East.
On Tuesday, Trump praised Gulf leaders for building the Middle East, where “people of different countries, religions and creeds build cities together rather than bombarding each other.”
This future seems to be inconsistent with what Israel seems to be seeking: claiming hegemony in the region through long-term bombing campaigns, including Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.
“A very strong signal is that a stable, prosperous Middle East (represented in the government’s perspective) in the Gulf nation is a more desirable outcome than Israel’s current view of the Middle East, which seems to be a permanent escalation of conflict.”