(Jericho) A delegation of officials from Saudi Arabia, led by Nayef al-Sudaïri, recently appointed ambassador of the kingdom for the Palestinian Territories, arrived Tuesday morning in Jericho, in the occupied West Bank, Yousra Sweiti, governor, told AFP Acting Director of the city.
This is the first visit by an official Saudi delegation to the West Bank since the Israeli-Palestinian peace accords in Oslo (September 1993) which allowed the establishment of the Palestinian Authority.
It comes against the backdrop of an unprecedented rapprochement between Israel and Saudi Arabia which the Palestinians are worried about.
“The Saudi ambassador entered the Palestinian zone,” Nazmi Mouhanna, director general of borders of the Palestinian Authority, confirmed to AFP.
Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Amman, Mr. Sudaïri was appointed non-resident ambassador for the Palestinian Territories in August and is due to present his credentials to President Mahmoud Abbas at a meeting scheduled for 1 p.m. (6 a.m. local time). ‘East) in Ramallah.
Before that, his delegation must be received at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by the head of Palestinian diplomacy, Riyad al-Maliki.
This visit comes as Washington is working to obtain a normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, a scenario which, if it comes true, could reshuffle the cards of Middle Eastern geopolitics.
For the moment, Saudi Arabia does not recognize Israel and has repeatedly declared that it is sticking to the historic position of the Arab League, which is not to establish ties with Israel until the issue is resolved. Palestinian.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and has subjected the Gaza Strip to a strict blockade since the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas took power there in 2007, two years after Israel unilaterally withdrew from it.
Riyadh has nevertheless given signs, in recent months, of a possible change in its position. Through the United States, the country has made known its conditions for normalizing its relations with Israel, including security guarantees from Washington and American assistance in the field of civil nuclear power, according to sources close to the negotiations.
“Legitimate national rights”
Recalling the normalization in 2020 of Israel’s relations with three Arab countries, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on September 22 at the United Nations in New York: “We are close to even more spectacular progress, a historic peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
“Such peace (with Riyadh) would increase the possibilities of peace with the Palestinians,” he added.
Over the past year, Israel has sent delegations to Saudi Arabia to participate in sporting and cultural events, including a UNESCO meeting in early September.
In 2020, Israel established formal ties with three new Arab states (after Egypt and Jordan): the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco, under the so-called Abraham Accords, negotiated by the president’s government American Donald Trump.
Mr. Abbas, however, warned that there could be no peace in the Middle East without the Palestinians obtaining their own independent state.
“Those who think that peace can prevail in the Middle East without the Palestinian people enjoying all of their legitimate national rights would be mistaken,” he told the UN General Assembly. UN on September 21.
The United States, a longtime mediator between Israel and the Palestinians, has made no major progress toward achieving a so-called “two-state” peace solution since its efforts failed a year ago. decade.
The prospects of such a solution have never seemed so remote since the entry into office, at the end of December, of a new Israeli government under the leadership of Mr. Netanyahu, champion of the Israeli right, with the support from the far right, and the continuation of a cycle of violence that seems endless.
Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, has acknowledged that the kingdom is moving closer to Israel, but insists that the Palestinian issue is “very important” to Riyadh.