Speculations surrounding a likely rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Israel gathered pace a day after Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh spoke of an "important diplomatic initiative" in the Middle East region.
At a Cabinet meeting in Ramallah on Monday, Shtayyeh spoke of Saudi Arabia and its "priorities in regional and international talks." This includes the Palestinian issue. President Mahmoud Abbas was also heavily involved in the meeting.
Since July, there has been new speculation as to whether Saudi Arabia could be the next country in the Arab world to normalize its relations with Israel. Both are allies of the United States, which acted as a mediator in the rapprochement of other Arab countries with Israel in 2020.
Riyadh officially has no relations with Israel, but the two countries have reportedly worked together on security issues for some time.
Israel has repeatedly spoken out in favor of relations with Saudi Arabia. Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen most recently told the Arabic news site Elaph that the Palestinian issue would not be "a hurdle to peace."
The New York Times recently reported on a plan by U.S. President Joe Biden in which recognition of Israel would be linked to security guarantees by the U.S. for Saudi Arabia as well as help for the kingdom in developing a civilian nuclear program.
Israel would have to make comprehensive concessions to the Palestinians, including a freeze on illegal settlements and the promise never to annex the West Bank.
But for such a deal, which would be very difficult to push through in Israel's right-wing religious government, there would still be many open questions and numerous hurdles.
In 2002, Saudi Arabia presented a peace initiative on the Middle East conflict. It envisaged normalized relations between the Arab states and Israel if the Jewish state withdrew from all territories occupied in 1967.
It also called for the recognition of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, as well as a just solution to the Palestinian refugee crisis.
In September 2020, Israel agreed to establish diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain under U.S. mediation. Morocco and Sudan subsequently also announced such steps.
Previously, only two Arab states, Egypt and Jordan, had relations with Israel.
