The war in Gaza and broader Middle East tensions are expected to get top billing at a Saudi-hosted special meeting of the World Economic Forum that begins on Sunday.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Palestinian leaders and high-ranking officials from other countries trying to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas are on the guest list for the summit in Riyadh, capital of the world’s biggest crude oil exporter.
“The world is today walking a tightrope right now, trying to balance security and prosperity,” Saudi Planning Minister Faisal al-Ibrahim told a press conference on Saturday previewing the event.
“We meet at a moment when one misjudgment or one miscalculation or one miscommunication will further exacerbate our challenges.”
‘New Momentum’ in Hostage Talks
Borge Brende, president of the World Economic Forum (WEF), told Saturday’s press conference that there was “some new momentum now in the talks around the hostages, and also for… a possible way out of the impasse we are faced with in Gaza.”
However, there will be no Israeli participation at the summit and Brende noted that formal mediation involving Qatar and Egypt was unfolding elsewhere.
“This is more an opportunity to have structured discussions” with “the key players,” he said.
“There will be discussions, of course, on the ongoing humanitarian situation in Gaza” as well as on Iran, which backs Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah group, he added.
The gathering “has all the prospects for becoming a very consequential meeting.”
The US State Department said that Blinken will “discuss ongoing efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza that secures the release of hostages and how it is Hamas that is standing between the Palestinian people and a ceasefire.”
Hamas said that it was studying on Saturday the latest Israeli counterproposal regarding a potential ceasefire in Gaza, a day after media reports said that a delegation from mediator Egypt arrived in Israel in a bid to jump-start stalled negotiations.
Israel estimates that 129 hostages seized by militants on October 7 are still being held in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead.
Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 34,388 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Health Ministry.
From the outset, Saudi Arabia has worked with other regional and global powers to try to contain the war in Gaza and avoid the type of conflagration that could derail its ambitious economic reform agenda known as Vision 2030.
Hosting international events such as the two-day WEF meeting allows the kingdom to showcase social changes including the reintroduction of cinemas and the lifting of a ban on women driving.
The kingdom also remains in talks about a landmark deal under which it would recognize Israel for the first time while strengthening its security partnership with the United States, but analysts say that the war in Gaza has made it more difficult.
With AFP
