Saudi Arabia’s King Salman and President Trump spoke by phone over the weekend, discussing several issues of importance to the U.S.-Saudi relationship, including a recent push by President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner to make progress resolving the Israel-Palestine issue.
During the call, the two leaders “discussed the work of the G20 chaired by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia this year and the efforts made within its meetings to protect lives and livelihoods to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 pandemic. They also reviewed the most prominent policies that have been agreed upon to reduce the negative aspects of the pandemic on peoples and the global economy,” the Saudi Press Agency said today.
President Trump during a visit to Saudi Arabia, his first overseas trip as President.
King Salman also told President Trump that he appreciated “the efforts made by the United States of America to establish peace” between Israel and Palestine, an effort led by President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
In August, the United Arab Emirates was the first Arab nation to recognize Israel in decades, and the two nations normalized ties. But other Arab nations, including Saudi Arabia, have not followed suit – though Saudi Arabia did say it would allow Israeli flights to use its airspace.
King Salman affirmed “the Kingdom’s keenness to reach a lasting and just solution to the Palestinian cause to bring peace, which is the main starting point for the Kingdom’s efforts and the Arab Peace Initiative,” the SPA said.
The Arab Peace Initiative, backed by Saudi Arabia since its launch in 2002 at the Beirut Summit and reaffirmed in 2007 and 2017, calls for a peace based on the complete withdrawal of Israel from the occupied Arab territories, including the Syrian Golan Heights, to the 4 June 1967 line and the territories still occupied in southern Lebanon. It also calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
On September 2nd, Kushner visited Saudi Arabia and met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
