Road to Normalizing Ties with Saudi Arabia is Long: Israel

 

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Israel-Saudi Arabia Normalization Talks still long, Far-right Ministers Reject Concessions to Palestinians

Tzachi Hanegbi who serves as the national security adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said on Monday that the road to normalising ties with Saudi Arabia is “still long” as members of his far-right government rule out concessions to Palestinians as part of any deal.

“I can say that Israel will not give in to anything that will erode its security,” Hanegbi said.

The idea of Israel and Saudi Arabia formally cementing ties has been under discussion since the Gulf countries of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain established ties with Israel in 2020.

But on Monday, a member of a key party in Netanyahu’s government rejected any concessions towards the Palestinians as part of a pact. 

“We certainly won’t agree to such a thing,” National Missions Minister Orit Strock told Kan.

 “We are done with withdrawals. We are done with freezing settlements in Judea and Samaria,” Strock said, referring to the occupied West Bank. 

Though it was unclear whether Strock was speaking on behalf of her entire party, such a position would pose a political obstacle for Netanyahu, who has cast the normalisation of ties with Saudi Arabia as a major foreign policy goal.

Her remarks were echoed by the head of another member of the coalition government, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who heads the far-right Jewish Power party. 

He told Army Radio that he has nothing against diplomatic deals with Arab countries. 

“But if this deal includes concessions to the (Palestinian) Authority, handing over territory, arming the authority or giving … terrorists power, then I surely object.”

The US has been seeking to broker a deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia, but Riyadh has signalled that it would only normalize ties if there is progress towards a two-state solution with the Palestinians.

The Biden administration has said that it is committed to a two-state solution, but it has also said that it is open to other creative approaches to resolving the conflict. 

It remains to be seen whether Israel and Saudi Arabia will be able to overcome the obstacles to normalization, but the talks are likely to continue in the coming months.

(Courtesy: Al-Jazeera)