[....] “We are not going to be announcing a normalization with Saudi Arabia on this trip,” Thomas R. Nides, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, said in a recent podcast hosted by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. But this will be the beginning of a process that will “show the importance of regional security,” he added.

Historically, Saudi officials have said that they will avoid a formal relationship with Israel until the creation of a Palestinian state. But leading Saudis have become increasingly critical of the Palestinian leadership, and two Saudi commentators expressed support for normalization with Israel in recent days.

The Israeli news media has also reported on back-channel negotiations to increase the number of Israeli planes allowed to fly over the Saudi mainland, and to secure Israel’s blessing to change the role of international peacekeepers on two strategic small islands near Israel’s southern coast that Egypt handed over to Saudi Arabia in 2017.

An Israeli minister, Esawi Frej, also said on Thursday that he had asked Saudi Arabia to allow direct flights from Israel to facilitate pilgrimages to Mecca by members of Israel’s Muslim minority.

“There is new closeness between Israel and the Gulf,” said Itamar Rabinovich, a former Israeli ambassador to Washington. “The question is: Can the United States try to take all these different bricks and build something new with them?”

Mr. Biden’s visit will also give the United States a chance to bridge its differences with the Israeli government over how to contain Iran’s nuclear program [....]

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Biden Will Find a Changed Middle East on His Coming Visit

On his first trip to the region since taking office, President Biden will begin in Israel, which has been building relations with Arab nations. He will also make a stop in Saudi Arabia.

By Patrick Kingsley in Jerusalem for NYTimes.com, July 10, 2022 Updated 11:46 a.m. ET