Bring Israel, Palestinians into talks: Saudi Foreign Minister

Agencies

Bringing Israel and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table should be the main focus of Middle East peace efforts, said Saudi foreign minister.

“I believe that the focus now needs to be on getting the Palestinians and the Israelis back to the negotiating table. In the end, the only thing that can deliver lasting peace and lasting stability is an agreement between the Palestinians and the Israelis,” Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said in a virtual appearance at a US think tank.

Speaking to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy think tank, the Saudi foreign minister also said he hoped it might soon be possible to resolve a dispute that led Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt to sever political, trade and transport ties with Qatar in mid-2017.

“We hope that we are able to find a path forward to address the legitimate security concerns that drove us to take the decisions we took,” he said. “I think there is a path towards that and we are hoping that we can find that in the relatively near future.”

Asked when that might happen, he replied: “Your guess is as good as mine.”