Saudis ready to drop demand Israel make major concessions to Palestinians: Report

One negotiator was said to disparagingly refer to Abbas as the “mayor of Ramallah,” in order to illustrate his limited power to influence officials from Israel and the Gulf Kingdom.

By World Israel News Staff

Saudi Arabia is reportedly gearing up for an historic normalization agreement with Israel that doesn’t include sweeping concessions to the Palestinians, despite officials from the Gulf Kingdom repeatedly stating that such a deal would be conditional upon the foundation of an independent Palestinian state.

According to an Axios report, Saudi negotiators are backing down from their original demand to see the implementation of a two-state solution to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict before a normalization agreement with Jerusalem comes to fruition.

A Haaretz report indicated that Israeli officials told their American counterparts, who are brokering the agreement, that Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas lacks the political clout to set terms for the deal.

One negotiator was said to disparagingly refer to Abbas as the “mayor of Ramallah,” in order to illustrate his limited power to influence officials from Israel and the Gulf Kingdom.

Some lawmakers within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, including MKs from his own Likud party and the Religious Zionist Party, have expressed their reservations regarding a deal with Saudi Arabia that would require giving up land to the Palestinians.

Several coalition MKs signed an open letter to Netanyahu, demanding transparency into the deal before it’s presented to the public and pledging that they would vote against it, should it include terms such as a Palestinian capital in eastern Jerusalem or the evacuation of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.

Last month, Palestinian officials told the Times of Israel that they demand for Israel to destroy unpermitted Jewish outposts in Judea and Samaria, the transfer of wide swathes of land in the territory to the PA, and a pledge to pursue the two-state solution in exchange for their support for a Saudi-Israel peace deal.