ISLAMABAD: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has held secretmeetings with the leaders of the Saudi Arabian and United Arab Emirates,media reports have claimed.
The Israel’s Maariv newspaper reported on Friday that Saudi Arabia’s CrownPrince Mohammad bin Salman and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuhave held secret meetings in Amman. The two leaders met at the Royal Palacein the Jordanian capital on the sidelines of a visit to Amman by WhiteHouse special adviser Jared Kushner and US Middle East envoy JasonGreenblatt. Citing an informed source, the report said Mohammad binSalman’s meetings with Netanyahu took place both with and without thepresence of Jordan’s King Abdullah.
Israel and Saudi Arabia have no diplomatic relations, but they are widelybelieved to have secret liaisons. Latest reports say the two regimes areworking behind the scenes to establish formal relations. Kushner andGreenblatt are on a regional tour to discuss Washington’s so-called peaceplan with officials in the occupied territories, Saudi Arabia, Egypt,Jordan and Qatar.
As part of the tour, US President Donald Trump’s envoys met with Mohammadbin Salman on Wednesday. The two sides discussed “increasing cooperationbetween the United States and Saudi Arabia, the need to facilitatehumanitarian relief to Gaza, and the Trump administration’s efforts tofacilitate peace between the Israelis and Palestinians,” a White Housestatement read. The meeting came one day after the envoys spoke aboutsimilar topics with the Jordanian king in Amman. Separately, Netanyahu metwith King Abdullah in Amman on Monday. Riyadh has been supporting the USinitiative purported to resolve the decades-long Israeli-Palestinianconflict.
Meanwhile, the New Yorker published a report chronicling, among otherthings, Israel’s recent outreach to Gulf Arab states to work together incountering Iranian influence in the region and to kill the Obama-era Irannuclear deal. It reports that “US intelligence agencies learned of phonecalls between senior the United Arab Emirates and Israeli officials,including calls between a senior Emirati leader and Israeli Prime MinisterNetanyahu.”
The report added that Hillary Clinton, both as Obama’s secretary of stateand as a presidential candidate, “knew that the UAE and Saudi Arabia werealready working together behind the scenes with Mossad to counter Iranianinfluence.” The report reveals that US intelligence agencies “picked up ona secret meeting between senior UAE and Israeli leaders in Cyprus.” The UAEdoes not officially have diplomatic relations with Israel. The US officialsapparently suspected that Netanyahu himself attended the meeting, whichcentred on countering Obama’s Iran deal. However, the Obama administrationwas never told of the meeting and both sides continue to deny it ever ithappened. It was revealed in mid-May that Netanyahu met with a seniordiplomat from the UAE in March 2018.
According to a report by the Associated Press, Netanyahu met the UAE’sambassador to Washington, Yousef al Otaiba, during his visit to theAmerican capital two months ago. The report stated that during Netanyahu’sthree-day visit to Washington, he had dinner at a restaurant where Otaibawas also present with a group. The Emirati ambassador, considered one ofthe most influential foreign emissaries in Washington, was made aware ofNetanyahu’s presence and invited him and his wife, Sara, to join his table.According to the report, Netanyahu joined the ambassador’s table, answeredsome policy questions and shook hands with Otaiba before departing.