The minister has arrived in Riyadh to attend the UN’s World Tourism Conference as momentum toward Saudi-Israel normalization grows
SEP 26, 2023
Israeli Tourism Minister Haim Katz arrived in Saudi Arabia on 26 September to participate in a conference of the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in the first such acknowledged visit by an Israeli government minister to the kingdom.
Katz will participate in several events and panel discussions while at the conference. The minister will also meet with colleagues from other countries, especially other ministers from countries in the region.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi will visit Saudi Arabia next week along with the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee chairman, MK David Bitan, for the Exceptional Posts Conference.
“Tourism is a bridge between nations. Partnership in tourism issues has the potential to bring hearts together and economic prosperity. I will work to create collaborations to promote tourism and Israel’s foreign relations,” said Katz.
The visit comes amid negotiations between Israel and Saudi Arabia to normalize relations. In an address to the UN General Assembly on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “We are at the cusp of a historic peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia.”
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MbS) stated last week to Fox News that “We are closer every day” to normalization with Israel.”
A Saudi delegation arrived in the occupied West Bank on 26 September to ease Palestinian objections to any normalization deal between Riyadh and Tel Aviv.
Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Jordan, Nayef al-Sudairi, who also serves Palestine, claimed the kingdom is “working towards establishing a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.”
Sudairi told reporters in Ramallah his visit “reaffirms that the Palestinian cause and Palestine and the people of Palestine are of high and important status and that in the coming days there will be a chance for a bigger cooperation between Saudi Arabia and the state of Palestine.”
However, Israeli leaders have long refused to end the military occupation of Palestinian land, the West Bank, which Israel conquered during the Six Day War in 1967. Israeli leaders have also insisted on continuing the gradual annexation and colonization of the West Bank by building Jewish settlements.
In his UN General Assembly speech, Netanyahu restated his position that Israeli military and economic prowess, rather than territorial concessions (land for peace), are the keys to regional statecraft – given, among other factors, shared Arab concerns about the rise of Iran.
“Thanks to this strength, we are deterring our enemies. Thanks to this strength, we are achieving peace with our neighbours,” he said.
Saudi Arabia and Israel have collaborated closely in recent years, but in private, as their security interests aligned. Both nations collaborated to support the US-led covert war on Syria starting in 2011, viewing Syria’s main backer, Iran, as a threat.
In 2020, Prime Minister Netanyahu made a secret trip to Saudi Arabia to meet with MbS as relations became closer.
Saudi officials denied the Netanyahu visit took place. However, Israeli news outlets and the US news website Axios, citing Israeli sources, reported that Netanyahu had met with the Crown Prince during a visit with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. It was the first known meeting between the Crown Prince and Netanyahu.
the Cradle.co
