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