RIYADH – *Saudi Arabia Foreign Minister reacts over media reports linkedwith Israeli citizens visit to Kingdom.*
The Saudi foreign minister says residents of the Israeli regime are notwelcome to visit the Arab country, a day after Tel Aviv announced that itwould for the first time allow Israelis to travel to the kingdom undercertain circumstances.
On Sunday, Israel announced in a statement that interior minister Arye Deryhad signed a directive allowing Israelis to visit Saudi Arabia either forreligious or business purposes, provided that they are invited andpermitted by Saudi authorities.
However, CNN quoted Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan assaying on Monday that Riyadh’s “policy is fixed,” stressing, “We do nothave relations with …Israel and Israeli passport holders cannot visit thekingdom at the current time.”
According to Israeli foreign ministry’s directive, only two groups couldtravel to Saudi Arabia. The first group includes Arab-Israeli Muslims whowant to perform the annual Hajj pilgrimages and the Umrah (minor Hajj) inthe holy city of Mecca. Arab-Israeli pilgrims have so far visited SaudiArabia for performing such Islamic rituals on temporary Jordanian papers.
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The second group consists of those Israelis who want to go to the Arabkingdom and stay there for business reasons, such as investment, and whosepermission is limited to 90 days. These travelers need an invitation fromSaudi authorities and are required to go through the necessary paperwork toenter the kingdom.
Until now, Israeli law banned residents from visiting many Arab countries,including Saudi Arabia, without express permission from the interiorminister and visits by Israeli businessmen were generally done in secret.
