Little Revealed about Saudi Visit to Israel

Despite the interest it has rightfully attracted and the parties’ willingness not to hide from the public, officials in Jerusalem and Riyadh are saying very little about the rare visit to the Jewish state and the West Bank by a delegation headed by a former Saudi general. The purpose of the trip was described as a “mission of businessmen and academics” to promote the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative. Although the substance of the contact has not been discussed in-depth, a meeting between retired Saudi general Anwar Eshki and Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs Director General Dore Gold at the King David hotel in Jerusalem included a photo-op for world media. It is also known that Eshki met with the head of COGAT, the arm of the military that oversees Israeli policies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and which controls all entries from the Palestinian territories into Israel. There was also a meeting between the general and opposition members of the parliament. The Saudi peace plan, the Arab Peace Initiative, calls for Israel to achieve a rapprochement with the entire Arab world at once by accepting the plan. It’s been on the table for 14-years but has recently generated renewed interest as it’s suggested as the blueprint for a long-elusive deal to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by a number of Western diplomats including US Secretary of State John Kerry.