Israel must accept Arab's peace initiative: Saudi official

CAIRO – 25 October 2017: Former head of Saudi intelligence, Turki bin Faisal Al-Saud, said on Wednesday that his country’s stance towards Israel is quite known to everyone; “They should accept the Arab's peace initiative,” he stated.

In an interview with the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation, bin Faisal added that the Israeli government has to accept starting a real dialogue with the Palestinian side and to withdraw from all the territories occupied in 1967, including Jerusalem.

Bin Faisal also denied rumors that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz is due to pay Tel Aviv a visit and meet with several Israeli officials.

He also advised the Israeli people to show more willingness in taking real steps to achieve peace.

Israel’s reaction to the Palestinian reconciliation that took place lately between Fatah and Hamas raised a lot of doubts regarding their true intentions, especially when it comes to having genuine peace talks with the Palestinian side.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu preferred to follow the “wait and see” strategy since the beginning of the reconciliation, which was strongly condemned by several ministers of his government including Minister of Education Naftali Bennett.

Bennett demanded that the prime minister cut all diplomatic relations with the Palestinian authorities once a deal between Fatah and Hamas was announced.

He also called on the Israeli government to refrain from giving the Palestinian authorities the taxes that Israel collects on their behalf, Sputnik reported on October 3. Bennett added that his call was not basically because of the reconciliation itself, but was because “the Palestinian president is cooperating now with an organization labeled as ‘terrorist’.”