Saudi Official: Relations With Israel Will Be Based on ‘Mutual Interest’

Saudi general, Anwar Eshki. (Photo: via MEMO)

Saudi Arabia will normalise its relations with Israel if the latter accepts the Arab Initiative, the Director of the Middle East Centre for Strategic and Legal Studies, Anwar Eshki, said.

In an interview with the German channel Deutsche Welle, the former general in the Saudi armed forces, said: “The normalization of relations with Israel depends on their approval of the Arab Initiative which was launched in 2002 by King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz with the aim of achieving peace in the Middle East and between Israel and Palestine, establishing an internationally recognized Palestinian state in 1967 and guaranteeing the return of refugees and Israel’s withdrawal from the occupied Golan Heights.”

After the peace and normalization processes, relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel will be established based on common interests and reciprocity.

He added that once the islands of Tiran and Sanafir are handed to Saudi Arabia by Egypt, the Kingdom will recognize the Camp David Accords.

“The aim behind restoring the two islands to Saudi Arabia was not to establish relations between the Kingdom and Israel but to demarcate the borders with Egypt.”

He added: “If the Kingdom normalizes relations with Israel, all Muslim countries will do the same and break Israel’s isolation from other countries in the region.”

Asked whether this Saudi rapprochement with Israel is due to the existence of a joint enemy – the Iranian regime – Eshki declared: “This is not an agreement but a circumstantial situation. The circumstances have imposed this on us. The hostility to Iran has two angles – an Israeli angle and a Saudi angle.”

(MEMO, PC, Social Media)

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