Jerusalem: Israel’s Tourism Minister Haim Katz arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for the first such high-level public visit to the kingdom amid talks to secure bilateral ties.
“Katz is the first Israeli minister to head an official delegation in Saudi Arabia,” his ministry said in a statement, adding he would attend a United Nations World Tourism Organization event in Riyadh.
During the two-day visit he is due to hold meetings “with his counterparts”, Katz’s office said without specifying which countries will be represented in such talks.
Katz’s visit comes after a Saudi envoy on a rare visit to the occupied West Bank pledged Tuesday that the Palestinian cause will be “a cornerstone” of any normalization deal the oil-rich kingdom may strike with Israel.
The delegation headed by Nayef al-Sudairi was Saudi Arabia’s first in three decades to the West Bank, which Israel has occupied along with other territories since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
The visit comes as Washington has urged its Middle East allies Israel and Saudi Arabia to normalize diplomatic relations, following on from similar deals involving the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco.
The Palestinians have labelled those agreements a betrayal of their quest for statehood — but Sudairi sought to reassure them that Riyadh stands by their side.
“The Palestinian matter is a fundamental pillar,” Sudairi told journalists after meeting top Palestinian diplomat Riyad al-Maliki in Ramallah.
“And it’s certain that the Arab initiative, which was presented by the kingdom in 2002, is a cornerstone of any upcoming deal.”
The 2002 initiative proposed Arab relations with Israel in exchange for its withdrawal from the West Bank, east Jerusalem, Gaza and the Golan Heights, and a just resolution for the Palestinians.
Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas, 87, last week again stressed strong reservations to Arab countries building ties with Israel.
“Those who think that peace can prevail in the Middle East without the Palestinian people enjoying their full, legitimate national rights would be mistaken,” Abbas told the UN General Assembly in New York
‘Getting closer’
Sudairi, the Saudi envoy to Jordan, was last month also named ambassador for the Palestinian territories and consul general for Jerusalem.
His delegation, which crossed overland from Jordan, was the first from Saudi Arabia to visit the West Bank since the 1993 Oslo Accords, which had aimed to pave the way for an end to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
When asked whether there will be a Saudi embassy in Jerusalem, Sudairi recalled that there used to be a one in the Jerusalem district of Sheikh Jarrah, and said that “hopefully there will be an embassy there” again.
Washington has been leading the talks between Israel and Saudi Arabia — the guardian of Islam’s two holiest sites — on a potential normalization seen as a game changer for the Middle East.
The talks have covered security guarantees for Saudi Arabia and assistance with a civilian nuclear program, according to officials familiar with the negotiations who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity.
The Saudi crown prince and de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman, last week told US network Fox that the kingdom was getting “closer” to a deal with Israel but insisted that the Palestinian cause remains “very important” for Riyadh.
In recent months Israel has sent delegations to Saudi Arabia to participate in sports and other events, including a UNESCO meeting.
‘Circle of peace’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the United Nations on Friday that he believes “we are at the cusp” of “a historic peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia”.
Speaking Tuesday at a ceremony to mark the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, he said “many states in the Middle East want peace with Israel”.
“Increasing the circle of peace is a historic opportunity and I’m committed to it.”
The 1993 Oslo Accords were meant to lead to an independent Palestinian state, but years of stalled negotiations and deadly violence have left any peaceful resolution a distant dream.
Netanyahu’s hard-right government has been expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank which are deemed illegal under international law.
A recent escalation in violence has seen at least 242 Palestinians and 32 Israelis killed so far this year, according to official sources on both sides.
The United States, which has brokered talks between Israel and the Palestinians in the past, has made no major push toward a two-state solution since a failed effort nearly a decade ago.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and later annexed east Jerusalem in a move not recognized internationally.
It also maintains a blockade on the Palestinian coastal territory of Gaza, which is ruled by militant group Hamas.