In 2020, Israel reached accords to normalise ties with Saudi Arabia\u2019s Gulf neighbours in the so-called Abraham Accords
\n JERUSALEM
\nIsrael\u2019s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen on Wednesday held out the prospect of a visit in the future to Saudi Arabia, and said at least one more Arab country would normalise ties with Israel this year.
\n\u201cThis (visit to Saudi Arabia) is on the table, there is no date yet,\u201d he said, speaking to Israel\u2019s Army Radio during a state visit to Azerbaijan.
\nIn 2020, Israel reached accords to normalise ties with Saudi Arabia\u2019s Gulf neighbours, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain and later included Morocco in the so-called Abraham Accords.
\nIt has made no secret of its desire for closer ties with Saudi Arabia, which has held back on formally recognising Israel in the absence of a resolution to Palestinian statehood goals. Earlier this week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said normalisation with Riyadh would be a \u201cgiant step\u201d towards ending the Arab-Israeli conflict.
\nCohen said that this year at least one more country would join the Abraham Accords, without elaborating.
\nHe added that the issue of normalising relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia came up during US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham\u2019s meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this week.
\n\u201cThe enemy of Saudi Arabia is certainly not Israel. Its enemy is Iran,\u201d Cohen said on Wednesday.
\nSaudi Arabia and Iran ended years of hostility following a China-brokered agreement in March. When asked about the restoration of ties between Riyadh and Tehran, Cohen said that such a development could bode well for Israel.
\n\u201cIt is precisely this thing that can lead to a balancing act of (Saudi Arabia) moving closer to Israel,\u201d he said.
\nEarlier on Wednesday, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Jeddah where the two discussed the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, Palestinian WAFA news agency reported.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In 2020, Israel reached accords to normalise ties with Saudi Arabia\u2019s Gulf neighbours in the so-called Abraham Accords JERUSALEM Israel\u2019s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen on Wednesday held out the prospect of a visit in the future to Saudi Arabia, and said at least one more Arab country would normalise ties with Israel this year. \u201cThis […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327063,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-327047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n