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Biden kicks off Middle East tour for high-stakes visit

US President Joe Biden arrived in Israel on Wednesday to kick off a high-stakes trip to the Middle East dominated by efforts to persuade Gulf allies to pump more oil and bring Israel and Saudi Arabia closer together. Biden will meet with Israeli leaders in Jerusalem and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the occupied West Bank. Afterward, he will take a direct flight from Israel to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia - a first for an American president - on Friday for talks with Saudi officials and to attend a summit of Gulf allies. For more analysis on Biden's Middle East tour and what he's hoping to achieve, FRANCE 24 is joined by William Jordan, former veteran US diplomat specializing in the Middle East and North Africa. Making a reference to Biden's recent Op-Ed in the Washington Post, Mr. Jordan explains, "President Biden is seeking to reinforce and underscore America's continued commitment to security and to creating or reinforcing partnerships in the region with Iran, top of mind, but also not forgetting long-standing issues such as the Palestinian problem." Despite the "official gloss that the Administration is trying to put on this," the timing of the trip is being perceived as highly suspect, says Mr. Jordan. "Amid turmoil in energy markets," the US president's efforts "to try to get Saudi Arabia to intervene more forcefully in energy markets to bring oil prices down is being seen widely as the main reason and is evoking quite a bit of skepticism in most of the media in the United States."