The peace process between Israel and Saudi Arabia already has prerequisites in terms of physical infrastructure but is being held back by politics, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th August, 2023) The peace process between Israel and Saudi Arabia already has prerequisites in terms of physical infrastructure but is being held back by politics, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday.
Israel has reenergized attempts to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia after the rich Gulf monarchy blindsided the Jewish state in March by agreeing to restore diplomatic ties with Iran, Israel's main regional adversary, after seven years of estrangement.
"There is a physical infrastructure element that exists in a Saudi-Israeli peace that has been there but has been defied by politics," Netanyahu said during a meeting with a US Democratic Congressional delegation led by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, as quoted the prime minister's office.
During the meeting, which was organized by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Netanyahu touched upon the issue of normalization of relations with the Gulf countries.
"What has happened is that this peace forged on Iran on one hand and technological and business cooperation with each other exploded. It's an economic peace. It already has billions moving in both directions with joint ventures, with tourism and people-to-people, economy-to-economy. And that's an exciting model for peace," Netanyahu said, adding that "if we have it with Saudi Arabia, which again is what our governments are working on right now, this will be such a quantum leap."
The US launched a process to normalize relations between Israel and the Arab world in 2020. As a result of these efforts, in September 2020, Israel, the UAE and Bahrain signed a set of documents known as the Abraham Accords, and were joined by Morocco in December of that year. In January 2021, Sudan also signed the declarative section of the Accords, but did not sign the relevant document with Israel, unlike other states, due to disagreements between the Sudanese military and civilian leadership over the issue.
