Saudi Arabia reaffirms Palestine remains its 'central issue'

Saudi Arabia’s cabinet confirmed that the Palestinian cause will remain a “central issue” for Arabs and Muslims, according to a statement issue by a Saudi Press Agency today.

During the virtual cabinet meeting chaired by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, ministers also reviewed the outcome of an emergency meeting of Arab League foreign ministers, convened last week, that condemned plans by the Israeli authorities to annex Palestinian land.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in announcing a deal to form a unity government, has said cabinet discussions will start on 1 July on extending Israeli sovereignty to Jewish settlements in the West Bank and annexing the area’s Jordan Valley outright.

Implementing such plans “represents a new war crime added to the Israeli record full of brutal crimes against the Palestinian people”, the Arab foreign ministers said in a statement after their emergency meeting.

READ: Palestine is still my cause, but is it yours?

Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit accused Israel of “taking advantage of the global preoccupation with confronting the coronavirus epidemic to impose a new reality on the ground”.

Acting Minister of Media Dr Majed in Abdullah Al-Gasabi said that Saudi Arabia rejects any type of occupation of the Palestinian territories. It also backs the Palestinian people to meet their aspirations in establishing an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Saudi Arabia was among several Gulf nations which welcomed US President Donald Trump’s peace plan for the Middle East, despite it having been unanimously rejected by the Palestinian side, who were also not involved in its formation.

President Trump unveiled the long-awaited details of the so-called “deal of the century” in January at a White House press conference alongside his close ally Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The plan, which the Palestinian Authority have called a “conspiracy”, grants Israel much of what it has sought in decades of international diplomacy, namely control over Jerusalem as its “undivided” capital and large-scale annexation of West Bank settlements.

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