Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz told United States President Donald Trump in a phone call that the Kingdom is seeking a fair and permanent solution for the Palestinians.
The monarch claims a fair deal for the Palestinians was the main starting point for its proposed 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, the kingdom’s state news agency reported on Monday.
The two leaders spoke by phone following the historic Israel- UAE peace agreement brokered by US last month making the United Arab Emirates the third Arab state after Egypt and Jordan to normalise ties with Israel.
King Salman praised US efforts to support peace but he maintained that Saudi Arabia would like to see a fair and permanent solution to the Palestinian issue based on its Arab Peace Initiative.
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Under the Arab Peace Initiativel, Arab nations offered Israel normalised ties in return for a statehood deal with the Palestinians and full Israeli withdrawal from territory captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
Although Saudi Arabia itself is yet to recognise the State of Israel, however, earlier this month the kingdom said it would allow flights between UAE and Israel, including by Israeli aircraft, to use its airspace.
Speaking on the conversation between the two leaders, white house spokeman, revealed that President Trump welcomed that decision, and that the two also discussed regional security.
Also speaking on the Israel-Palestinian conflict, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is also a White House adviser said he hopes another Arab country normalises ties with within months.
King Salman’s son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Kushner had met last month in UAE, where they discussed the need for the Palestinians and the Israelis to resume negotiations and reach a lasting peace.
While the US-backed diplomatic drive aims to boost a regional alliance against Iran, Palestinians have condemned it as a “stab in the back” as they remain under occupation and don’t have their own state.
On Sunday, leaders of Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement and the Palestinian Hamas group met to discuss the US push for diplomatic normalisation, the movement said.
Hamas chief Ismail Haniya and Hassan Nasrallah, head of the Iran-backed Shia Hezbollah movement, stressed the “stability” of the “axis of resistance” against Israel.
They discussed “political and military developments in Palestine, Lebanon and the region” and “the dangers to the Palestinian cause” including “Arab plans for normalisation” with Israel, Al-Manar said.
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