Saudi Arabia sent its first delegation to the occupied West Bank since the 1993 Oslo Accords. The visit comes as Washington has been leading talks between Israel and Saudi Arabia on a normalization that would mark a game changer for the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia, which has engaged in US-brokered talks with Israel to potentially normalize relations, Tuesday sent a delegation to the occupied West Bank for the first time in three decades.
It was led by the Saudi non-resident ambassador to the Palestinian territories, Nayef al-Sudairi, who was to meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and top Palestinian diplomat Riyad al-Maliki.
Sudairi, the oil-rich kingdom’s envoy to Jordan, was last month also named for the Palestinian territories post and appointed consul general for Jerusalem.
The delegation, which crossed overland from Jordan, was the first from Saudi Arabia to visit the West Bank since the 1993 Oslo Accords, which had aimed to pave the way for an end to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
The Saudi visit comes as Washington has been leading talks between Israel and Saudi Arabia, guardian of Islam’s two holiest sites, on a normalization that would mark a game changer for the Middle East.
The talks include security guarantees for Saudi Arabia and assistance with a civilian nuclear program, according to officials familiar with the negotiations on condition of anonymity.
The Saudi crown prince and de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman, said last week that the kingdom was getting “closer” to a deal with Israel but insisted that the Palestinian issue remains “very important” for Riyadh.
Katrine Dige Houmøller, with AFP
