Saudi Arab no Israel deal without Palestinian peace

-

 

Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday it will not follow the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in establishing diplomatic ties with Israel until the Jewish state has signed an internationally recognised peace accord with the Palestinians.

Saudi Arabia says no Israel deal without Palestinian peace - World ...

The UAE last week became the first Gulf state to normalise relations with Israel, in a historic US-brokered accord that raised the prospect of similar deals with other Arab states including Saudi Arabia.

But after days of conspicuous silence and in the face of US pressure to announce a similar deal, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan ruled out the possibility until the Palestinian issue is resolved.

“Peace must be achieved with the Palestinians” on the basis of international agreements as a pre-condition for any normalisation of relations, Prince Faisal told reporters during a visit to Berlin.

“Once that is achieved all things are possible,” he added, in a comment that was consistent with Saudi Arabia's previous stance on the issue.

Prince Faisal's remarks are the kingdom's first official reaction since the UAE's landmark deal with Israel, which is only the third such accord the Jewish state has struck with an Arab country after Egypt and Jordan.

At a news conference with his German counterpart Heiko Maas, Prince Faisal reiterated criticism of Israel's “unilateral policies” of annexation and building settlements in the occupied West Bank as “illegitimate” and “detrimental” to a two-state solution.

'Biggest constraint'

Until now, Saudi Arabia had maintained a notable silence over the deal even as local officials hinted that Riyadh was unlikely to immediately follow in the footsteps of the UAE, its principle regional ally.

Amping up US pressure on the kingdom, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner insisted on Monday that it would be in Riyadh's interest to formally establish ties with Israel.

Further putting the kingdom in the spotlight, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said Israel was working on opening a corridor over Saudi Arabia for flights to the UAE.

But Saudi Arabia, the Arab world's biggest economy and home to Islam's holiest sites, faces more sensitive political calculations than the UAE.

Not only would a formal recognition of Israel be seen by Palestinians and their supporters as a betrayal of their cause, it would also hurt the kingdom's image as the leader of the Islamic world.

“The notion that Saudi Arabia will be next to normalise relations with Israel was far-fetched,” said Aziz Alghashian, a lecturer at Essex University specialising in the kingdom's policy towards Israel.

“The biggest constraint for Saudi-Israeli normalisation is not the fear of a domestic and regional backlash.

“Rather, Saudi Arabia deems it necessary to not normalise relations outside the framework of the Arab Peace Initiative that called for resolving the Palestinian issue, if it still wants to be seen as the leader of the Muslim and Arab world,” Alghashian told AFP.

In 2002, Saudi Arabia sponsored the Arab Peace Initiative which called for Israel's complete withdrawal from the Palestinian territories occupied after the Six-Day War of 1967, in exchange for peace and the full normalisation of relations.

But a shared animosity towards Iran, along with Saudi attempts to attract foreign investment to fund Prince Mohammed's ambitious Vision 2030 economic diversification plan, appear to be pushing the kingdom closer to Israel than ever.

In 2018, Riyadh quietly opened its airspace for the first time for an Israel-bound passenger plane.

Riyadh has also pursued a bold outreach to Jewish figures in recent years, even as it appears wary of a public backlash.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

US states bring back strict corona virus measures as cases near record

-
Image
HOUSTON:  Authorities in the US  on Wednesday have started imposing  strict measures, that include quarantines and stay-at-home advice, as a spike in daily coronavirus cases hit record levels after surging across the nation's South and West. Nearly four months after reporting its first death from COVID-19, the United States faces a deepening health crisis as a wave of infections hits young Americans and experts issue new acute warnings. More than 35,900 cases were recorded in the past 24 hours, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University, with heavily populated states including Florida, Texas and California all reporting daily record cases. The world's largest economy is already the country hardest hit by the pandemic, with a mounting death toll of almost 122,000. Some officials — including the Texas governor — who loosened restrictions on business, dining, public gatherings and tourism, are now urging residents to again stay home. Three northeastern states that made progr
Read more

Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim: Bismillah plays an important role in Islamic Culture

-
Image
Bismillah plays an important role in Islamic Culture. Following the practice of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace and blesssings be upon him and his Household (Ahlul Bayt), Muslims begin with the name of Allah before doing anything.  Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim  is translated as "In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful". Bismillah occurs at the head of every chapter ( surah ) in the Holy Qur'an, with the exception of the 9th chapter, Surah al-Baraa'at (also called Surah al-Tawbah). Calligraphers have written bismillah in many ways. This pictorial gives us a unique opportunity to look at some of the ways bismillah can be written. In a letter on behalf of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him and his Household This bismillah is taken from a letter written on behalf of Prophet Muhammad [s] to the Ruling Archbishop of Egypt. The letter was written in the fifth year after Hijrah (627 CE). This letter is preserved in the Topkapi Museum, in Istanbul, Turkey. The
Read more

The United States has said its landmark deal with the Taliban has entered the “next phase”

-
Image
The United States has said its landmark deal with the Taliban has entered the “next phase” while urging the militants to reduce rising violence to allow Afghan peace talks to begin. The two sides signed an agreement in February that saw Washington pledge to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by the middle of next year, in return for the insurgents promising to hold negotiations with the Afghan government to end the decades-old war. Under phase one, the US said it would reduce troops to 8,600 within 135 days, while completely removing forces from five military bases. On the 135th day, US Special Representative on Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, who negotiated the deal for Washington, tweeted that both sides had reached a “key milestone”. “The US has worked hard to carry out 1st phase of its commitments under the agreement, including to reduce troops & depart five bases,” he said on Monday. As the deal entered its “next phase”, Washington's approach will be based on ce
Read more