US President Joe Biden has 'not yet' decided on Saudi Arabia trip

Palestinian president is hosting Barbara Leaf and US delegation in Ramallah before anticipated Biden visit

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas meets with Barbara Leaf in Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Reuters

US President Joe Biden has reportedly said he had “not yet” decided if he will travel to Saudi Arabia.

The report comes as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas hosted a US delegation led by Barbara Leaf, the new head of the US State Department’s Middle East bureau, on Saturday.

The meeting follows reports this month that Mr Biden is planning a trip to the region.

When asked if he would use a possible trip to the Middle East to help to improve Saudi-Israeli relations, Mr Biden told reporters in New Mexico: “We'll see,” Reuters reported.

Ms Leaf was named Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs in May.

During her meeting with the Palestinian president, Mr Abbas reiterated his requests to remove the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) from the US list of terrorist entities, his office said.

He also requested that the PLO's office in Washington and the American consulate for East Jerusalem be reopened, after both were closed under the Trump administration.

Ms Leaf, who began a three-day trip to the Palestinian territories and Israel on Saturday, met Mr Abbas “to discuss the US-Palestinian relationship, US assistance to Palestinians, deepening ties and how Palestinians and Israelis alike deserve equal measures of freedom, security and prosperity,” the State Department said.

Mr Biden has pledged to reopen the consulate, closed under Donald Trump, whose administration recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital, infuriating the Palestinians who see its eastern sector as their future capital.

Israel opposes the Palestine consulate in Jerusalem, saying the US should open this diplomatic mission in Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank.

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Meanwhile, the US has in recent days changed the title of its Palestinian Affairs Unit to Office of Palestinian Affairs (OPA), without defining it a consulate.

The unit “operates under the auspices of the US embassy in Jerusalem, and reports on substantive matters directly to the” State Department, an OPA representative said, noting the new structuring was “to strengthen our diplomatic reporting and public diplomacy engagement”.