JERICHO, Palestine: Saudi Arabia, which has engaged in US-brokered talkswith Israel to potentially normalise relations, Tuesday sent a delegationto the occupied West Bank for the first time in three decades.
It was led by the Saudi non-resident ambassador to the Palestinianterritories, Nayef al-Sudairi, who was to meet Palestinian president MahmudAbbas and top Palestinian diplomat Riyad al-Maliki.
Sudairi, the oil-rich kingdom’s envoy to Jordan, was last month also namedfor the Palestinian territories post and appointed consul general forJerusalem.
The delegation, which crossed overland from Jordan, was the first fromSaudi Arabia to visit the West Bank since the 1993 Oslo Accords, which hadaimed to pave the way for an end to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
The Saudi visit comes as Washington has been leading talks between Israeland Saudi Arabia — guardian of Islam’s two holiest sites — on anormalisation that would mark a game changer for the Middle East.
The talks include security guarantees for Saudi Arabia and assistance witha civilian nuclear programme, according to officials familiar with thenegotiations who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity.
Israel in 2020 established ties with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain andMorocco, but Saudi Arabia has so far refrained from following suit untilIsrael’s conflict with the Palestinians is resolved.
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However, the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, last week said the twosides were “getting closer”.
In recent months Israel has sent delegations to Saudi Arabia to participatein sports and other events including a UNESCO meeting.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the United Nations on Fridaythat he believes “we are at the cusp” of “a historic peace between Israeland Saudi Arabia”.
Abbas, 87, had earlier voiced the Palestinians’ strong reservations. “Thosewho think that peace can prevail in the Middle East without the Palestinianpeople enjoying their full, legitimate national rights would be mistaken,”he told the UN General Assembly. -APP/AFP
