The Kingdom’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN) Abdallah Al-Mouallimi, announced that Riyadh is keen to take the Arab Initiative for peace forward. This initiative aims at ending of Israel’s hold of all Arab territories occupied in 1967 and the restoration of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, in lieu of settling affairs with Israel.
The diplomat remarked, “Time does not change right or wrong. The Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories is wrong, no matter how long it lasts.”
Al-Mouallimi said, “The official and latest Saudi position is that we are prepared to normalise relations with Israel as soon as it implements the elements of the Saudi Peace Initiative that was presented in 2002.” He further stated that Israel will have recognition “not only from Saudi Arabia, but the entire Muslim world, all 57 countries of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)” after the successful implementation of the peace initiative.
Israeli media reported that a delegation of 20 American Jewish leaders had visited Saudi Arabia and met with senior officials last month, including six government ministers and senior representatives of the Saudi royal house. The visit was an attempt to assess possibilities of fixing relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.