Saudi Arabia said it is ready to normalise relations with Israel based on the 2002 Arab initiative proposal for peace.
In an interview with the Riyadh-based Arab News daily, Abdallah Al-Mouallimi, the kingdom’s permanent representative to the UN, said Riyadh is committed to the Arab Initiative for peace, which calls for the end of the Israeli occupation of all Arab territories occupied in 1967 and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital in return of normalising ties with Israel.
“The official and latest Saudi position is that we are prepared to nor-malise relations with Israel as soon as Israel im-plements the elements of the Saudi peace initiative that was presented in 2002,” Al-Mouallimi said.
He added that once implementing the initia-tive, Israel will have recognition “not only from Saudi Arabia but the entire Muslim world, all 57 countries of the Organization of Islamic Coopera-tion.”
“Time does not change right or wrong. The Is-raeli occupation of Palestinian territories is wrong no matter how long it lasts,” the diplomat said.
Last month, Israeli media reported that a delegation of some 20 American Jewish leaders had visited Saudi Arabia and met with senior officials there, including at least six government ministers and senior representatives of the Saudi royal house in an effort to review possibilities of establishing ties between Riyadh and Tel Aviv.
