{"id":107340,"date":"2023-09-27T17:05:58","date_gmt":"2023-09-27T15:05:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=107340"},"modified":"2023-09-27T11:59:44","modified_gmt":"2023-09-27T09:59:44","slug":"03-05-91","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=107340","title":{"rendered":"In Historic First, Israeli Minister Makes Public Trip to Saudi Arabia"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>In Historic First, Israeli Minister Makes Public Trip to Saudi Arabia<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h5>\n

Andrew Bernard<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s Tourism Minister Haim Katz on Tuesday arrived in Saudi Arabia in what his office described as the first-ever public visit by an Israeli minister to the kingdom.<\/span><\/p>\n

Katz is attending the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) conference in Riyadh. A statement from the Tourism Ministry said that Katz would focus on meetings with Middle Eastern partners during the two-day event.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTourism is a bridge between nations,\u201d Katz said in a statement. \u201cPartnership in tourism issues has the potential to bring hearts together and foster economic prosperity. I will work to create collaborations to promote tourism and Israel\u2019s foreign relations.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The visit follows statements by both Israeli and Saudi leaders suggesting that a breakthrough agreement to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia might be close.<\/span><\/p>\n

In an exclusive interview with The Algemeiner on Sunday, Israel\u2019s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan said that the two countries have \u201cnever been closer\u201d to reaching a deal. That followed an interview that Saudi Arabia\u2019s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, gave to Fox News on Wednesday in which he said that \u201cevery day we get closer\u201d to a deal. Bin Salman also confirmed that negotiations with the United States to broker an agreement were ongoing.<\/span><\/p>\n

A potential Saudi normalization deal was also a major focus of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s speech last week to the UN General Assembly, where he touted the possibility of a \u201cnew Middle East\u201c with Israel at peace with its neighbors. Israel\u2019s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen in turn predicted that the deal could be ready by the first quarter of 2024.<\/span><\/p>\n

While the UNWTO conference is an international forum that gives Saudi Arabia deniability that the invitation to Katz signals a move toward normalization with Israel, such invitations were nonetheless a prelude to the Abraham Accords that normalized relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates in 2020. In 2015, Israel opened an office at the headquarters of the UN\u2019s International Renewable Energy Agency in Abu Dhabi, and in 2019 the Jewish state confirmed its participation in the UAE\u2019s Expo 2020, a full year before the announcement of the Abraham Accords.<\/span><\/p>\n

Katz\u2019s trip marks the first open visit by an Israeli minister to Saudi Arabia after years of never-confirmed media reports of secret visits between the two countries. Saudi Arabia denied that Mohammed Bin Salman traveled to Israel in 2017 and also denied that Netanyahu and Bin Salman held a secret meeting in Saudi Arabia in 2020, despite US and Israeli media reports saying that the meeting had occurred.<\/span><\/p>\n

While Bin Salman has now said publicly that he is seeking a normalization deal with Israel in exchange for concessions from the United States, the Saudis have also indicated that they still seek concessions from Israel on the Palestinian issue.<\/span><\/p>\n

In his address to the UN General Assembly on Saturday, Saudi Arabia\u2019s Foreign Minister Faisal bin Furhan did not mention a potential normalization deal with Israel, calling instead for an independent Palestinian state.<\/span><\/p>\n

And on Tuesday, the Palestinian Authority welcomed Saudi Arabia\u2019s non-resident ambassador. It was the ambassador\u2019s first visit to the West Bank, despite Saudi Arabia\u2019s longstanding recognition of Palestinian statehood.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates welcomes the visit of the Saudi Ambassador to the State of Palestine and considers it a historic milestone for the development of fraternal relations between the two countries,\u201d the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

Zawarto\u015b\u0107 publikowanych artyku\u0142\u00f3w i materia\u0142\u00f3w nie reprezentuje pogl\u0105d\u00f3w ani opinii Reunion’68,<\/em>
\nani te\u017c webmastera Blogu Reunion’68, chyba ze jest to wyra\u017anie zaznaczone.
\nTwoje uwagi, linki, w\u0142asne artyku\u0142y lub wiadomo\u015bci prze\u015blij na adres:
\n<\/em>webmaster@reunion68.com<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Historic First, Israeli Minister Makes Public Trip to Saudi Arabia Andrew Bernard Israel\u2019s Tourism Minister Haim Katz on Tuesday arrived in Saudi Arabia in what his office described as the first-ever public visit by an Israeli minister to the kingdom. Katz is attending the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) conference in Riyadh. A […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107340"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=107340"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107378,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107340\/revisions\/107378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=107340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=107340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=107340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}