Saudi Arabia, which has engaged in U.S.-brokered talks with Israel to potentially normalize relations, Tuesday sent a delegation to the occupied West Bank for the first time in three decades, VOA reports.
It was led by the Saudi non-resident ambassador to the Palestinian territories, Nayef Al-Sudairi, who met Palestinian president Mahmood Abbas and top Palestinian diplomat Riyad al-Maliki, according to reports. At that meeting, Al-Sudairi presented his credentials President Abbas.
The trip came just as Israel’s tourism minister became the first senior Israeli official to make a public visit to Saudi Arabia, in “a clear sign that a landmark diplomatic deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia has gained momentum,” the AP notes. Haim Katz’s two-day visit kicked off today and he will attend a United Nations World Tourism Organization event, announced by his office.
The visit by al-Sudairi to Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority, is widely seen as an attempt by the kingdom to address the key sticking point in the Saudi-Israeli normalization deal: Saudi Arabia’s stance toward the Palestinians. The Saudi government has said it will only normalize ties with Israel if there is major progress toward the creation of a Palestinian state.
In response to a question about the fate of the two-state solution if Saudi Arabia and Israel normalized relations, the ambassador told reporters on Tuesday that “the Arab Peace Initiative is the central point of any upcoming agreement,” according to the Palestinian Authority’s WAFA news agency.
