U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday that the present moment represented an "exceptional opportunity" for Israel to normalize ties with Arab states. 

"Virtually every Arab country now wants to integrate Israel into the region to normalize relations," the official told the conference, according to Reuters. 

Blinken also spoke of an "urgent" imperative to "proceed with a Palestinian state that would also ensure the security of Israel." He said there was a regional effort underway to revive the Palestinian Authority and turn it into a viable institution. 

The Biden administration has been working to secure a mega-deal that will see ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel normalize. The Kingdom and other Arab countries are seeking the creation of a Palestinian state as part of the deal.
Washington is also working to achieve a deal to secure the release of Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7 when the terror group crossed the border into Israel and mounted one of the deadliest attacks on the country in decades.

Talks on the structure of Gaza when the war ends, and how the Palestinian Authority — which exercises limited self-rule in some areas of the occupied West Bank — needs to be reformed to potentially rule the densely populated enclave and identify a pathway for a Palestinian state are all variables in the same equation, according to US officials.

Reuters/i24