US President Joe Biden arrives at Philadelphia International Airport on June 14, 2022. Photo: Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein

US President Joe Biden will visit Israel and the Palestinian Authority next month, ahead of a trip to Saudi Arabia, the White House confirmed Tuesday.

The president’s trip to the Middle East will kick off in Israel on July 13, followed by stops in the West Bank and Saudi Arabia, before ending on July 16.

Speaking to reporters, a senior administration official said Biden has “a lifelong connection” to Israel.

His visit to the country, which comes amid another coalition crisis in Jerusalem and growing international concern over Iran’s nuclear program, will be his first as president. It is expected to include a tour of missile defense systems funded with US assistance, discussion of joint cooperation on laser technologies, and a meeting with Jewish athletes participating in the international Maccabiah Games.

The president will also “reaffirm the ironclad US commitment to Israel’s security and new areas of deepening cooperation in technology, climate, commerce, trade, and other sectors,” the official said.

Biden’s visit will additionally focus on Israel’s increasing regional integration, namely through ties with Jordan, Egypt, the Abraham Accords countries — the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, and Bahrain — and a new four-nation grouping called the I2U2, which links Israel, the US, the UAE, and India.

While in Israel, Biden is scheduled to attend a virtual summit with his counterparts in the I2U2 cohort to discuss areas of cooperation, including on food security.

A statement from the Israeli prime minister’s office welcoming Biden’s visit said it will “reveal the steps that are being taken by the US to integrate Israel into the Middle East and increase the prosperity of the entire region.”

In addition to meetings with Israeli officials, Biden is slated to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, likely in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, where he will reaffirm “his lifelong commitment to a two-state solution” and discuss ways to “rekindle a new political horizon that can ensure equal measures of freedom, security, prosperity, and dignity to Israelis and Palestinians alike.”

The Biden administration has sought to reinvigorate ties with the Palestinian Authority that were downgraded during the Trump administration, which shuttered the Palestine Liberation Organization office in Washington, cut financial support to the PA and the United Nations agency dedicated to Palestinians, and fulfilled a longstanding US pledge by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Washington resumed aid to the Palestinians under Biden, providing “over half a billion dollars in support” since April 2021, according to the administration official briefed on the president’s trip. Last week, the US diplomatic mission to the Palestinians in Jerusalem was directed to report directly to Washington, rather than the US ambassador to Israel, indicating a boost in ties.

Following his tour in Israel and the West Bank, Biden plans to fly directly from Israel to Saudi Arabia — a notable arrangement made possible by thawing ties in recent years. While in the kingdom, which he previously pledged to isolate, the president will attend bilateral meetings with Saudi and other officials, as well as a summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council.