Saudi Arabia, which is in peace negotiations with Israel through US mediation, brought a delegation to the occupied West Bank on Tuesday for the first time in thirty years.
Saudi delegation visits Israel: Acting Jericho governor Yusra Sweiti told AFP that the delegation was led by Nayef al-Sudairi, the kingdom’s non-resident envoy to the Palestinian territories. They travelled overland from Jordan.
This Saudi delegation had not visited the occupied West Bank since the historic signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993.
Last month, Sudairi, the Saudi ambassador to Jordan, assumed the role of non-resident ambassador to the Palestinian territories and general consul for Jerusalem.
Riyad al-Maliki, the chief Palestinian diplomat, will welcome him, according to the Ramallah-based foreign ministry.
Mahmud Abbas, a Palestinian, will then meet Sudairi.
The timing of Sudairi’s travel to Ramallah coincides with Washington’s leadership of negotiations between Israel and Saudi Arabia on the possibility of normalising their relations, which would be a game-changing development for the region.