LONDON: US President Joe Biden wants to use his Middle East trip this week to deepen Israel’s integration in the region and will be working toward “progress and momentum” on discussions surrounding relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, the White House said on Monday.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said any normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia was likely to take a long time, but that Biden would be looking to make progress on that front during his trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia this week.

“It is our hope and expectation, as we look out into the future, we can help facilitate Israel’s deeper integration into the region across the board,” he said.

“Specifically, with respect to Israel and Saudi Arabia, I’m not going to get ahead of very intensive work that will be done in the course of this trip.

“Any normalization of any kind would be a long process, but looking for progress and momentum in that direction is certainly something we’re focused on as we head off to the Middle East.”