Saudi king reiterates support for Palestinians after Israel comments

 

 

Saudi Arabia's King Salman walks past Russian honour guards during a welcoming ceremony upon his arrival at Vnukovo airport outside Moscow, Russia October 4, 2017. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin/Files

 

RIYADH (Reuters) - King Salman reiterated Saudi Arabia's support for a Palestinian state after his son and heir apparent said Israelis were entitled to live peacefully on their own land - a rare statement by an Arab leader.

 

The king also emphasised the need to advance the peace process in a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday night, made after Israeli security forces killed 16 Palestinians last week during a demonstration along the Israel-Gaza border. The number rose to 17 on Tuesday.

 

King Salman reaffirmed "the kingdom's steadfast position towards the Palestinian issue and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital", state news agency SPA said on Tuesday.

 

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas praised King Salman, thanking him for his support.

 

"President Abbas expressed his gratitude and appreciation ... for his supportive positions of the Palestinian people, the Palestinian cause and the cause of Jerusalem and its sacred sites," said a statement published by the official Palestinian WAFA news agency.

 

Abbas also praised Saudi Arabia for continuing to support the right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital, the statement said.

 

The report did not refer to the comments by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in an interview published on Monday by U.S. magazine The Atlantic, which are the latest public sign that ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel may be growing closer.

 

Asked if he believes the Jewish people have a right to a nation-state in at least part of their ancestral homeland, Prince Mohammed was quoted as saying:

 

"I believe the Palestinians and the Israelis have the right to have their own land. But we have to have a peace agreement to assure the stability for everyone and to have normal relations."

 

Saudi Arabia, birthplace of Islam and home to its holiest shrines, does not recognise Israel. It has maintained for years that normalising relations hinges on Israeli withdrawal from Arab lands captured in the 1967 Middle East war, territory Palestinians seek for a future state.

 

Increased tension between Riyadh and Tehran has fuelled speculation that shared interests may push Saudi Arabia and Israel to work together against what they see as a common Iranian threat.

 

(Reporting By Stephen Kalin; editing by David Stamp and Diane Craft)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-04-04

Yes, too bad about all the religion around there, but at least Israel is a strongly secular state.

Israel is the only country that is not ruled by a co-monarchy, an absolute monarchy, a dictator or by a leader placed into power by a theocratic body.

6 minutes ago, blazes said:

Yes, too bad about all the religion around there, but at least Israel is a strongly secular state.

Israel is the only country that is not ruled by a co-monarchy, an absolute monarchy, a dictator or by a leader placed into power by a theocratic body.

Israel is a secular state just like America is a secular state.

I thought that the next world war will start somewhere in this part of the world?

I am just wondering when it will likely begin.?

Geezer

4 hours ago, car720 said:

Ah,  Jerusalem.

The centre of all the world's religions (mostly) and therefore the centre of all the world's problems.

 

Sure thing. If there's ever a peace agreement sorting things out in Jerusalem, all the worlds woes will be solved, then?

2 hours ago, blazes said:

Yes, too bad about all the religion around there, but at least Israel is a strongly secular state.

Israel is the only country that is not ruled by a co-monarchy, an absolute monarchy, a dictator or by a leader placed into power by a theocratic body.

 

2 hours ago, Grouse said:

Israel is a secular state just like America is a secular state.

 

Israel is not "strongly" secular. There is no separation of religion and state, for starters. Also, religious voters numbers are ever on the rise. While it's not a theocracy, there's no comparing it to most Western democracies on this front. In the same way, it's nowhere near most of its neighbors when it comes to these issues.

 

 

 

 

The OP is an expected balancing act, set to mitigate some of the problems which may have been caused by the Crown Prince's statements. In effect, even MbS's position was that it all depends on achieving an Israeli-Palestinian agreement. Wondering if the carrots and sticks here would be enough to move things along some.

3 hours ago, blazes said:

Yes, too bad about all the religion around there, but at least Israel is a strongly secular state.

Israel is the only country that is not ruled by a co-monarchy, an absolute monarchy, a dictator or by a leader placed into power by a theocratic body.

Dreamer.... The old reason Israel still exists is its big brother, big finance friends between the Atlantic and pacific ocean. Anything as far right wing as Israel should have been stopped many years ago. 

4 minutes ago, jonstarjon said:

Dreamer.... The old reason Israel still exists is its big brother, big finance friends between the Atlantic and pacific ocean. Anything as far right wing as Israel should have been stopped many years ago. 

Are you saying that if a country votes in a right-wing government, it doesn't deserve to exist?

In that case, America should not be existing.  Whichever party rules America, it remains and, short of another civil war, will continue to remain, a right-wing country (at least by the standards of the whole of Europe).

2 minutes ago, car720 said:

99%

 

If you say so.