Once again, Saudi Arabia has confirmed its permanent narrative on the Palestinian issue, which has not changed or been modified over many decades.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, when he opened the first year of the ninth session of the Shura Council, said that the Palestinian issue will be at the forefront of his country’s concerns. While condemning Israeli crimes in the besieged Gaza Strip, he stressed that Riyadh will not establish diplomatic relations with Israel before the establishment of a Palestinian state. He also stressed that Israel ignores international and humanitarian law, which causes a new and bitter chapter of the sufferings for the Palestinian people.
Saudi Arabia, as has been articulated by the Crown Prince, will not stop its tireless work to establish an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. It will also spare no effort in utilising all its capabilities to boost international recognition of the Palestinian state. It is also thankful to the countries which have already taken the initiative to do so, symbolizing international legitimacy and urging the rest of the world to take similar steps. These statements are a new addition to a flat and upright Saudi narrative.
Saudi diplomacy has not ceased its demand of the necessity of finding a credible path, irreversible, and without faltering, to establish the Palestinian state, and end the times of “Palestinians’ wandering and displacement” around the world.
Perhaps the Saudi voice during the Gaza crisis was clearly and loudly evident more than once, including what the Crown Prince stated during the last Hajj season this year, when he called on the international community to intervene quickly and effectively to immediately stop the attacks on our brothers in Gaza, and to take all measures which guarantee the protection of lives in the strip.
The Saudi action appears to be effective and successful, supporting and motivating all positive international efforts which enhance the legitimacy of the cause. The latest scenes were a few days ago when the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the adoption by the United Nations General Assembly of a resolution on ending the illegal presence in the occupied Palestinian territories, which was voted on during the emergency special session. On the threshold of the UN General Assembly, Saudi Arabia stressed the need to take practical and credible steps to reach a just and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian issue, in accordance with the Arab Peace Initiative and international legitimacy resolutions.
One wonders over and over again: What if Israel had accepted the Saudi comprehensive peace initiative, which was presented at the Arab Summit in Beirut in March 2002?
Tel Aviv and its politicians, unfortunately, are in the race of “lost opportunities.” The Netanyahu government publicly declares every morning and evening its rejection of the two-state solution. It also disregards international resolutions.
It seems that militarisation, the only concept dominating the Israeli mentality, is moving from wounded Gaza to southern Lebanon, which threatens to ignite the region in a wide regional war whose disastrous consequences no one knows.
Living on the edge of the sword forever is not beneficial, and refusing to achieve rights will push future generations to high and expensive costs. The path to peace depends on Israel, which is what the Kingdom insists on saying as a cry of truth in times of falsehood.
[by Emile Amen in Asharq Al-Awsat]
Compiled and translated by Faizul Haque