Colonel Richard Kemp
Ynet News, Sept. 30, 2023
“Economic benefits accruing from normalisation are high up on Saudi’s agenda, but its top priority is security and regime stability, upon which all else depends.”
Many commentators believe that official diplomatic recognition might flounder on the Palestinian issue, with Saudi demanding compromises that Israel cannot meet. That is not so. The 2020 Abraham Accords were established without any Israeli concessions to the Palestinians, and they were agreed with the UAE and Bahrain, and later Morocco and Sudan, with complete Saudi backing, albeit behind the scenes.
That tells you everything about Saudi’s actual perspective on the Palestinian question, notwithstanding public comments such as those of the Saudi ambassador to the Palestinians who said during a recent visit to Ramallah that the Arab Peace Initiative “is a fundamental pillar of any upcoming agreement”.
The 2002 Arab Peace Initiative conditions Arab recognition of Israel on the latter’s withdrawal from Judea and Samaria, Gaza and the Golan Heights, return of refugees and the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
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