Saudi Envoy Makes Historic Ramallah Visit in Attempt To Reassure Palestinians Amid Israel Normalization Talks

In the first Saudi visit to the Palestinian Authority in over 30 years, Ambassador Nayef Al Sudairi tried to assuage Palestinian fears that their demands would be ignored in Saudi-Israeli normalization

Saudi Arabia’s newly appointed ambassador to Palestine presented his credentials to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday during a historic visit to Ramallah in the West Bank. The visit is meant to reassure Palestinians that Saudi Arabia won’t bypass them in its normalization talks with Israel.

Your Excellency the President, I am happy and proud to be in my country, Palestine, and its capital, God willing, East Jerusalem. Next time, God willing, we will go together to Jerusalem.

“Your Excellency the President, I am happy and proud to be in my country, Palestine, and its capital, God willing, East Jerusalem. Next time, God willing, we will go together to Jerusalem,” Nayef Al Sudairi, Saudi Arabia’s nonresident ambassador to Palestine, told President Abbas.

Al-Sudairi, who headed the kingdom’s delegation, also met Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki.

Saudi crown prince and de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman, told the US network Fox last week that the kingdom was getting “closer” to a deal with Israel, but insisted that the Palestinian cause remains “very important” for Riyadh.

“You listened to the interview of His Highness the Crown Prince on Fox News, in which he clearly indicated his great concern for the brothers in Palestine and wished them a better life,” Al Sudairi emphasized.

This is the first visit by a Saudi official to the Palestinian Territories in more than three decades, and it comes amid increased talks of normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel brokered by the US. Saudi officials insist they don’t want to leave the Palestinian issue out of normalization talks.

Washington has been leading the talks between Israel and Saudi Arabia—the guardian of Islam’s two holiest sites—towards a potential normalization widely seen as a political game changer for the Middle East.

Every Palestinian, every Arab, every person knows that history is being made. We welcome the ambassador; we welcome this move, and we look forward to fruitful results out of this visit.

“Every Palestinian, every Arab, every person knows that history is being made. We welcome the ambassador; we welcome this move, and we look forward to fruitful results out of this visit, with the hope that Saudi Arabia plays a major role in brokering a deal in the Middle East that goes beyond the expectations of the Palestinians and those speculating [about] the Saudi-Israeli talks that are currently taking place,” Sabri Saidam, deputy secretary-general of the Fatah Central Committee, told The Media Line.

In his interview last week, the 38-year-old Saudi crown prince told Fox that “we need to solve that part” when it comes to the Palestinian issue’s role in the negotiations but didn’t mention the two-state solution or the two-decades-old Arab Peace Initiative.

The ambassador was clearer about it.

“It’s certain that the Arab Initiative, which was presented by the kingdom in 2002, is a cornerstone of any upcoming deal,” Al Sudairi clarified.

That was critical for Palestinians, as they see the proposal brought by Arab states as the basis for any negotiations with Israel.

“Most important [is] for Palestinians to make maximum gain,” Saidam said. “Anything short of the realization of the Arab Peace Initiative is unacceptable. So what we always mention is that the issue of circumvention of such initiative is totally unacceptable.”

“There have been countries that have indeed circumvented the Arab Peace Initiative but as a Saudi-originated initiative, I can’t imagine Saudi Arabia wanting to ever go down in history as the country that circumvented the very initiative it brokered,” he added.

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 of the conflict for the Palestinians.

Palestinian political analyst Jihad Harb told The Media Line that the timing of the visit and the appointment of a Saudi ambassador to Palestine are no coincidence.

“I think that there is a connection between the appointment of the Saudi ambassador and the ongoing discussions about an American-Saudi deal that includes the Palestinians and Israelis,” he said. “Relations between the Palestinians and the Saudis and a rapid exchange of Palestinian information and needs regarding this deal must be developed.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the United Nations on Friday that he believes a historic peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia is imminent. Harb says despite the limited influence of the Palestinian Authority on Riyadh, the Palestinian cause still matters.

“The Palestinian issue is important for the Saudis, as it is one of the gateways to the possibility of normalization with Israel, as well as to the historical connection between Palestine and Saudi Arabia on the religious level and Saudi Arabia’s religious and Arab status,” Harb explained.

As Palestinian officials greeted the Saudi ambassador in Ramallah, the news broke that Israel’s Tourism Minister Haim Katz had landed in Riyadh for the first high-level public mission to the oil-rich kingdom.

Soft normalization is already underway. Saudi Arabia has already allowed Israeli airlines to fly over its airspace in recent years, and Israeli officials reported that the kingdom received help from Israeli cybersecurity firms to fend off certain cyberattacks.

Unlike the 2021 Abraham Accords, the PA is trying to play a role in the talks and has been engaging with Saudi officials, making their demands known.