Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) (AFP) - US President Joe Biden landed Friday in Saudi Arabia and met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, sealing a retreat from his campaign pledge to turn the kingdom into a "pariah" over human rights abuses.
Saudi state media showed images of Air Force One at the airport in the coastal city of Jeddah after a flight from Israel, making Biden the first US leader to fly directly from the Jewish state to an Arab nation that does not recognise it.
The US president walked down a purple carpet and was greeted by Mecca province governor Prince Khaled al-Faisal and the ambassador to Washington, Princess Reema bint Bandar Al-Saud.
State television Al-Ekhbariya later showed Prince Mohammed, the kingdom's de facto ruler, greeting Biden with a fist bump before escorting him into Al-Salam palace.
Biden met Saudi King Salman, 86, then had a "working session" with Prince Mohammed, flanked by top officials.
After taking office last year, Biden's administration released US intelligence findings that Prince Mohammed "approved" an operation targeting journalist Jamal Khashoggi, whose gruesome killing in Saudi Arabia's Istanbul consulate sparked global outrage.
Saudi officials deny Prince Mohammed's involvement and say Khashoggi's death resulted from a "rogue" operation.
Khashoggi's widow, Hatice Cengiz, tweeted an imagined response from Khashoggi to Friday's meeting.
"Is this the accountability you promised for my murder?The blood of MBS's next victim is on your hands," she wrote using Prince Mohammed's initials.
But Biden now appears ready to re-engage with Saudi Arabia -- a key strategic US ally, a major supplier of oil and an avid buyer of weapons.
Washington wants the world's largest crude exporter to open the floodgates to bring down soaring oil prices, which threaten Democratic chances in November mid-term elections.
After meeting with Prince Mohammed, the White House said Biden would deliver remarks at 10:30 pm local time (1930 GMT) that were not initially on his schedule.
Israeli ties
US officials are also touting efforts to promote integration between Israel and Arab nations.
Saudi Arabia has refused to join the US-brokered Abraham Accords under which Israel normalised ties with the kingdom's neighbours, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, in 2020.
Riyadh has repeatedly said it would stick to the decades-old Arab League position of not establishing official ties with Israel until the conflict with the Palestinians is resolved.
But it is showing signs of greater openness towards Israel, and announced Friday it was lifting overflight restrictions on aircraft travelling to and from Israel, a move Biden hailed as "historic".
Israeli caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid also praised the decision.
"This is the first official step in normalisation with Saudi Arabia," he said.
On Saturday Biden is due to meet Arab leaders from the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council as well as Egypt, Jordan and Iraq to discuss volatile oil prices and Washington's role in the region.
'Political horizon' in Bethlehem
Jeddah marks the final stop on Biden's Middle East tour, following talks on Friday with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and meetings with Israeli officials a day earlier.
With Palestinians banned by Israel from political activity in Jerusalem, the US president travelled to Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank to meet Abbas.
Standing alongside him, Biden reiterated his commitment to a two-state solution to end the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
There "must be a political horizon that the Palestinian people can actually see", Biden said.
"I know that the goal of the two states seems so far away," Biden added.
Abbas said he was "taking steps" to improve relations with Washington and aimed to see the US consulate to Palestinians in Jerusalem -- which Trump closed -- reopen.
With Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations moribund since 2014, the US delegation has been focusing on economic measures.
Biden made clear on Thursday he had no plans to reverse the controversial move by Trump to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital, which infuriated Palestinians who see its eastern sector as the seat of their future state.
'Justice for Shireen'
Biden was greeted in Bethlehem with a billboard reading "Justice for Shireen", referring to Shireen Abu Akleh, the veteran Palestinian-American journalist shot dead in May while covering an Israeli army raid in the West Bank.
The family requested to meet Biden during his visit, but his administration has instead invited them to Washington.
"I think if President Biden (can) find an hour and a half to go and attend a sport activity, he should have respected the family and given them 10 minutes to listen to them," said Samer Sinijlawi, chairman of a Palestinian nonprofit, the Jerusalem Development Fund, after Biden on Thursday attended a ceremony for Jewish athletes.
Speaking alongside Abbas, Biden said the US "will continue to insist on a full and transparent accounting" of Abu Akleh's death.
Washington earlier this month concluded she was likely shot from an Israeli military position, but that there was no evidence of intent to kill.
