Saudi Arabia’s first ambassador to Palestine arrived in the occupied West Bank on an official visit.
Saudi Arabia “is working for the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital,” Nayef bin Bandar al-Sudairi said following his meeting with Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki.
Al-Sudairi assured the Palestinian Foreign Minister that the “Palestinian issue is important” for Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy.
Al-Sudairi has said that his country is committed to the formation of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. The ambassador of Saudi Arabia added that Riyadh is very interested in the Palestinian issue and its solution based on international legitimacy.
“Saudi Arabia is very interested in solving the Palestinian issue. We wish a better life for our Palestinian brothers. Foreign Minister Farhan also emphasizes Saudi Arabia’s attention to Palestine, based on the resolution of international legitimacy and resolving its tensions.”
On Aug. 13, the official Saudi Press Agency reported that al-Sudairi, who is also the Saudi ambassador to Jordan, “formally presented a copy of his credentials as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Non-Resident Ambassador to the State of Palestine and Consul General in Jerusalem.”
“The solution must be based on the United Nations resolution and lead to a peace that will allow the Palestinian people to have an independent state”, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan said.
Meanwhile, Haim Katz, the Minister of Tourism of Israel, has travelled to Saudi Arabia at the head of a delegation to participate in an international meeting on tourism.
This visit provoked the reaction of the Palestinian authorities. They described the visit of the Israeli delegation to Saudi Arabia as a “stab in the back”.
Al-Sudairi is the first Saudi ambassador to Palestine. The kingdom had a Consulate General in Jerusalem, but it was closed with Israel’s occupation of the city in 1967, when the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, was under Jordanian administration at the time.
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