The US State Department confirmed, on Tuesday, that Saudi and Palestinian demands regarding any “final agreement” between Riyadh and Israel insisted that “an important Palestinian element” must be present in any potential normalization agreement.
Ministry spokesman, Matthew Miller, said in response to a question from Al-Hurra’s correspondent that “the American President and the Secretary of State spent an important time working on the issue of normalization” between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
Miller revealed that US President Joe Biden’s talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York last week also touched on the issue.
Miller added, “One of the things that we heard in our engagement with the Palestinians and that we communicated on their behalf to our Israeli counterparts is that there must be an important Palestinian element in any final agreement,” stressing, “The government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has made that clear publicly and made it clear to us privately… and it is certain that “This is an issue on the table.”
On Tuesday, the Israeli Prime Minister said, on the anniversary of the October 1973 war: “50 years ago, most Middle Eastern countries were united in their hatred of Israel, and today many Middle Eastern countries want peace with Israel.”
He stressed that Israel is working hard with the United States to reach an agreement that would “dramatically reshape the region.”
This was a clear signal to Saudi Arabia and the possible normalization of relations within a broader and complex agreement between Washington and Riyadh.
Miller’s statements came in conjunction with the first public visit to Saudi Arabia by a senior Israeli official, as Tourism Minister Haim Katz arrived in Riyadh on Tuesday to participate in a conference of the United Nations World Tourism Organization.
The visit comes at a time when talks on signing a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia are gaining noticeable momentum.
In early September, a delegation from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs visited the Saudi capital, Riyadh, to attend a meeting of the World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
On September 20, the Saudi Crown Prince, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, confirmed in an interview with Fox News that an agreement was “approaching” regarding the normalization of relations between the Kingdom and Israel.
In response to a question in this regard, the Saudi Crown Prince said: “Every day we get closer.”
2023-09-26 19:31:01
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