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Saudi General Sees Egyptian-Jordanian Umbrella for Israeli-Palestinian Peace

(Ynet News) Smadar Perry - Dr. Anwar Eshki, a retired general in the Saudi army who runs a Middle East Center for Strategic Studies, held talks with Dr. Dore Gold, who served as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's advisor. Eshki wouldn't have allowed himself to talk to Israel without receiving the green light from the highest authorities in Riyadh. Last week, the Saudi general was interviewed by the German newspaper Deutsche Welle. Eshki said the islands of Sanafir and Tiran in the Red Sea are being transferred from Egypt to Saudi Arabia only after a sweeping commitment was received to allow Israeli ships to sail freely in the Tiran Straits. According to Eshki, transfer of the islands turns the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty into an international agreement which binds Saudi Arabia and will serve as a basis for future collaboration. But, he said, there will be no normalization until Israel works to solve the situation with the Palestinians. He said that any solution reached by the parties would be sponsored by Jordan (in the West Bank) and Egypt (in Gaza), creating a sort of Egyptian-Jordanian umbrella and getting the two countries involved in the solution. Whatever the Palestinians accept will be accepted by Saudi Arabia, he said. In other words, Saudi Arabia is willing to give up the Arab peace initiative. Saudi Arabia would also agree, according to Eshki, to postpone Jerusalem's division to the last stage of the talks, to prevent the negotiations from reaching a deadlock.
2017-07-12 00:00:00
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