US President Joe Biden has reportedly said he had “not yet” decided if he will travel to Saudi Arabia.
The report comes as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas hosted a US delegation led by Barbara Leaf, the new head of the US State Department’s Middle East bureau, on Saturday.
The meeting follows reports this month that Mr Biden is planning a trip to the region.
When asked if he would use a possible trip to the Middle East to help to improve Saudi-Israeli relations, Mr Biden told reporters in New Mexico: “We'll see,” Reuters reported.
Ms Leaf was named Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs in May.
During her meeting with the Palestinian president, Mr Abbas reiterated his requests to remove the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) from the US list of terrorist entities, his office said.
He also requested that the PLO's office in Washington and the American consulate for East Jerusalem be reopened, after both were closed under the Trump administration.
Ms Leaf, who began a three-day trip to the Palestinian territories and Israel on Saturday, met Mr Abbas “to discuss the US-Palestinian relationship, US assistance to Palestinians, deepening ties and how Palestinians and Israelis alike deserve equal measures of freedom, security and prosperity,” the State Department said.
Mr Biden has pledged to reopen the consulate, closed under Donald Trump, whose administration recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital, infuriating the Palestinians who see its eastern sector as their future capital.
Israel opposes the Palestine consulate in Jerusalem, saying the US should open this diplomatic mission in Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank.
Barbara Leaf in the UAE — in pictures
-
Barbara Leaf has been confirmed as the head of the US State Department’s Middle East bureau. Here, she offers condolences to the President, Sheikh Mohamed, on the death of Sheikh Khalifa. MOPA -
Ms Leaf has been serving as the National Security Council’s senior director for the Middle East. Antonie Robertson / The National -
She was the US ambassador to the UAE from 2014 to 2018. Reem Mohammed/The National -
Ms Leaf visits the kitchen before the Discover America dinner at Ray's Grill, Abu Dhabi. Photo: US Embassy -
Ms Leaf at the Najah Education Fair at Adnec in Abu Dhabi. Pawan Singh / The National -
Ms Leaf attends the USA Healthcare Symposium & Showcase in October 2017 at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Academic Medical Centre in Dubai. Antonie Robertson / The National -
Ms Leaf, right, visits Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque with Joe Biden, then vice president of the United States, in March 2016. They were accompanied by Yusef Al Obaidly, director general of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Centre, left; Reem Ibrahim Al Hashemi, Minister of State for International Co-operation, and tour guide Ishaq Mohammed Al Mushairi, centre. Photo: Crown Prince Court -
Mr Biden, centre, speaks with Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State and chairman of Masdar, at Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, in March 2016, as Ms Leaf, second left, looks on. Photo: Crown Prince Court -
US Secretary of State John Kerry, third left, with Ms Leaf and Ethan Goldrich, deputy chief of mission at the US Embassy in Abu Dhabi. AP Photo -
Ms Leaf, head of the US State Department’s Middle East bureau. Vidhyaa Chandramohan for The National
Meanwhile, the US has in recent days changed the title of its Palestinian Affairs Unit to Office of Palestinian Affairs (OPA), without defining it a consulate.
The unit “operates under the auspices of the US embassy in Jerusalem, and reports on substantive matters directly to the” State Department, an OPA representative said, noting the new structuring was “to strengthen our diplomatic reporting and public diplomacy engagement”.
