A delegation comprising Saudi officials has arrived in the Palestinian territories in the West Bank for the first time in 30 years. This information was reported by Agence France-Presse, citing a local official.
The delegation includes Saudi Arabia's new ambassador to Palestine, Nayef Al Sudairi. He was scheduled to present his credentials to the head of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, at 13:00 local time. According to Al Hadath TV channel, copies of the credentials were received by PNA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki. Following this, the Saudi representative proceeded to the administrative center of the State of Palestine, the city of Ramallah.
As per Al Hadath, Al Sudairi reiterated that Saudi Arabia still believes in the necessity of establishing an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Al Sudairi was appointed as Saudi Arabia's non-resident ambassador to the Palestinian territories in the West Bank in August. He also serves as the kingdom's diplomatic representative to Jordan. Al Sudairi held the position of Saudi ambassador to Canada from 2014 to 2018.
On September 7, the BBC reported, citing sources in the Palestinian Authority, that Palestinian representatives had outlined conditions under which they would consider normalizing relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. This discussion took place during a meeting between Palestinians and their Saudi counterparts in Riyadh on September 6. The demands included the transfer of territories in the West Bank currently under Israeli control (known as Area C) to the Palestinian National Authority, as well as the resumption of Saudi financial support, which had been suspended in 2019, at a rate of $200 million annually.
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Based on materials from TASS