PA President welcomes first-ever Saudi ambassador to Palestine
The visit comes as Saudi Arabia is involved in US-sponsored efforts to normalize ties with Israel
Saudi Arabia’s first-ever ambassador to Palestine arrived in Ramallah on 26 September and was received by the President of the Palestinian Authority (PA), Mahmoud Abbas.
Nayef al-Sudairi, appointed ambassador by the kingdom in August, arrived in Palestine as the head of the first Saudi delegation to visit the occupied country since the signing of the Oslo Accords three decades ago.
During the reception at Ramallah’s presidential headquarters, Sudairi presented his credentials to Abbas.
“I was honored to convey the greetings of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, and his Crown Prince, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, to President Mahmoud Abbas, and to present my credentials to the President,” Sudairi said after the meeting.
“We also stressed the close relationship between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the State of Palestine, and God willing, this visit will be the beginning of strengthening relations in all fields,” he added.
During a press conference with the new ambassador, Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Maliki said that the kingdom “is working to make the Palestinian issue the central issue for all Arabs.”
The ambassador said that the kingdom is working to achieve "a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.”
Sudairi is also the kingdom’s ambassador to Jordan and will maintain his duties as Non-Resident Ambassador and Consul-General of Saudi Arabia to the State of Palestine.
The visit comes as Saudi Arabia is involved in a US-sponsored effort to normalize ties with Israel.
While privately making demands for security, defense, and nuclear guarantees in exchange for a deal, the kingdom has maintained publicly that it will not sign any agreement until progress is made in achieving Palestinian statehood.
Israeli media cited two PA officials as saying on 26 September that Ramallah “wants a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia to be conditioned on Israel halting unilateral actions in the West Bank,” adding that, in exchange, the PA is willing to halt its own “unilateral actions.”
The Israeli unilateral actions referred to include brutal raids in the West Bank, illegal settlement expansion, and government-backed settler violence.
In exchange, the officials said that the PA would be willing to discuss abandoning cases against Israel filed at the International Criminal Court (ICC). It also said it would be open to discussing payments made by the PA to families of Palestinian prisoners and resistance fighters killed by Israel – which Tel Aviv views as encouragement of terrorism.
“There should be mutual obligations,” one of the officials told The Times of Israel.
“Saudi Arabia has agreed completely to our demands. They told us that they are not brokers between us and the Israelis; rather, they are our partners and that we (the Palestinians and the Saudis) are on the same side.”
Last month, a PA official told The Times of Israel that Ramallah is seeking “irreversible” steps that will lead to the establishment of a UN-recognized State of Palestine that would include Palestinian control over West Bank territory.
However, as the Israeli government continues outright rejection of Palestinian statehood, and continues to advance plans for an annexation of the West Bank, it remains unclear how Saudi-Israeli normalization will advance.
Saudi officials vowed earlier this month during a visit by a PA delegation to the kingdom that they would “not abandon” the Palestinian cause.