NEW YORK – Saudi Arabia said that the entire Muslim world will establish normal relations with Israel once it implements the 2002 Arab initiative proposal for peace that called for an end to the occupation of all Arab territories occupied in 1967.
Abdallah Al-Mouallimi, the kingdom’s permanent representative to the UN, stated this during an interview with Riyadh-based Arab News daily.
“The official and latest Saudi position is that we are prepared to normalise relations with Israel as soon as Israel implements the elements of the Saudi peace initiative that was presented in 2002,” Al-Mouallimi said.
Not only Saudi Arabia, but also the entire Muslim world will recognize Israel once it implements the peace initiative, he reiterated.
The Arab peace proposal also calls for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
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“Time does not change right or wrong. The Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories is wrong no matter how long it lasts,” the diplomat was quoted as saying in the report.
Last month, Israeli media reported that a delegation of some 20 American Jewish leaders had visited Saudi Arabia where they held meeting with various government officials in a bid to thaw relations between the two countries.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move that is widely slammed by the international community.
