Saudi top diplomat to make rare trip to occupied West Bank
Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan will visit the occupied West Bank this weekend, making him the highest ranking Saudi official to visit in almost 60 years, the Palestinian Authority (PA) revealed on Friday.
Bin Farhan will lead a ministerial delegation comprised of his counterparts in Jordan, Egypt, and other Arab nations, the Palestinian ambassador to Saudi Arabia told local media, adding that the trip is intended to convey the centrality of the Palestinian cause to Arabs and Muslims.
The move appears similar to the trip bin Farhan organised to Washington in the early months of Israel's war on Gaza, in a bid to showcase a united Arab front in support of a ceasefire.
It also appears to be an attempt at lending credibility to the PA as an alternative to Hamas in Gaza, despite the PA's plummeting popularity among Palestinians.
The trip is rare and unusual, given that the last time a Saudi official visited Ramallah, he had been appointed a non-resident ambassador to Palestine.
New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch
Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters
Nayef al-Sudairi arrived just weeks before the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel, and before him, King Faisal had visited in 1966.
Those attacks were intended to and indeed derailed Saudi-Israeli normalisation talks, Hamas officials revealed over the course of the war.
With the kingdom being the de facto leader of the Arab world, it can set an agenda with the kind of influence few of its neighbours possess - and normalising with Israel would have likely dashed ambitions for Palestinian statehood.
Since 2023, Saudi Arabia has made it clear that normalisation would only be pursued with a clear pathway to a Palestinian state.
Earlier this year, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called Israel's now 19-month-long war on Gaza a "genocide", echoing assessments by the United Nations and countless rights organisations, among other leading historians and experts.
More than 54,000 Palestinians have been killed so far, with some experts believing the figure to be a significant undercount.
Next month, a meeting in New York co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France is expected to outline the necessity of establishing a Palestinian state, and rebuild support for the concept of the two-state solution, a plan outlined in the 1993 Oslo Accords.
Several European nations have recently recognised the state of Palestine, including Ireland, Spain, and Norway.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The National
5 hours ago
- The National
'Totally unacceptable': US rejects Hamas response to Gaza truce plan
President Donald Trump' s special envoy Steve Witkoff on Saturday said Hamas's response to a US-backed ceasefire plan for Gaza was "totally unacceptable." Hamas had given a conditional nod to the Gaza truce plan presented by Mr Witkoff, with the group's reservations focused on assurances it seeks on Israel's withdrawal from the Palestinian territory and the distribution of aid, sources told The National on Saturday. But Mr Witkoff appeared to pour cold water on any sense that an agreement with Hamas was imminent. He said the militant group's response "only takes us backwards" and called on them to accept the proposal that the US had presented. "That is the only way we can close a 60-day ceasefire deal in the coming days," he wrote on X, adding that such a deal would lead to good-faith negotiations to try to reach a permanent ceasefire. Hamas's response to the US plan had been handed earlier to Qatar and Egypt, whose mediators in turn fine-tuned it in co-operation with Hamas's leaders. Hamas's response, reached after extensive consultations with its allies in Gaza, sought firm assurances that negotiations with Israel during the proposed 60-day truce will bring about an Israeli withdrawal and an end to the war, according to sources. Israel has long maintained it would not end the war until all hostages are released and Hamas's governing and military capabilities are dismantled. It also seems improbable that Israel would at this point agree to a full withdrawal from Gaza under any immediate scenario. Hamas is also seeking clarifications on the quantity, nature and distribution of the humanitarian aid that will enter Gaza if a deal is reached. It also wants to stagger the release of 10 living hostages cited by the plan over the course of the 60-day truce, not in batches as previously. "Hamas believes that releasing the 10 hostages one by one or two by two throughout the truce will help ensure Israel's continuous commitment to the deal," said one of the sources. Hamas is believed to be holding about 58 hostages, of whom about 20 are alive, according to the military in Israel, which has already accepted the plan, which also requires Hamas to hand over the remains of 18 hostages. In a vaguely-phrased statement, Hamas had said on Saturday its response to the plan included a demand for an end to the war. "This proposal aims to achieve a permanent ceasefire, a comprehensive withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and ensure the flow of aid to our people and our families in the Gaza Strip." Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Hamas must agree to the ceasefire proposal or be destroyed. "The Hamas murderers will now be forced to choose: accept the terms of the 'Witkoff Deal' for the release of the hostages – or be annihilated," he said. The latest proposal to pause the war in Gaza comes after repeated attempts by mediators failed to achieve a breakthrough, with Israel resuming military operations on March 18 after the end of a two-month truce brokered by mediators from the United States, Egypt and Qatar. Sources told The National on Friday that Hamas was dissatisfied with the plan's lack of 'genuine guarantees' that the proposed negotiations with Israel would lead to an end to the war and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. They said Hamas believed the plan left the prospect of an Israeli withdrawal and a long-term truce dependent on the progress of the negotiations, rather than the fruition of the process, the sources said. Hamas also believes the plan ignores its suggestions on the timeline and dynamics of the handover of hostages and fails to treat the delivery of aid into Gaza as a human right, leaving the process closely linked to the proposed plan and, subsequently, subject to Israel's use of food as a weapon. Under the plan, the resumption of humanitarian aid would involve 1,000 lorries a day to quickly address the widespread hunger and acute shortages of medicine and other essentials among Gaza's 2.3 million population, the sources said. A distribution plan drafted by UN experts for its personnel and members of affiliated agencies has been handed to Israeli authorities, the sources said. Besides a long-term ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the proposed negotiations during the truce will, according to the plan, tackle sensitive issues, including the governing of postwar Gaza, the fate of Hamas's weapons and the exile abroad of its senior officials, the sources said. Hamas has already suggested it would keep away from governing Gaza and any reconstruction effort and said it is open to laying down and storing its weapons under international supervision, but not surrendering them. It has also indicated that it will agree to some of its senior officials, as well as some from allied groups such as Palestinian Islamic Jihad, leaving Gaza to live in exile – provided they are not attacked later by Israel. The Gaza war was caused by a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people. Hamas fighters also took about 250 hostage. Israel responded with a relentless military campaign that has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians and injured more than twice that number, Gaza's Health Ministry said. The war also laid to waste most of the enclave's built-up areas.
Middle East Eye
5 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Exclusive: Hamas offers to release ten captives over sixty days in three stages
Hamas has requested changes to a US-backed ceasefire plan intended to halt Israel's military offensive in Gaza, the group said on Saturday. Middle East Eye has obtained the full 13-point proposal through informed Palestinian sources. The document outlines the terms Hamas has conditionally accepted, including a 60-day ceasefire with US President Donald Trump acting as guarantor of Israel's compliance. The plan would see Hamas release ten living Israeli captives and the remains of 18 others in three phases. For the living captives four on day one, two on day 30, and four on day 60. As for the bodies, six will be returned on day ten, another six on day 30, and the remaining six on day 50. In return, Israeli forces would begin withdrawing to positions held before 2 March 2025. A Palestinian source close to the negotiations criticised Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff for pushing a deal that lacks clarity and guarantees, telling MEE it shows 'ill intention,' warning it could lead to the collapse of the fragile talks. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Speaking to MEE on condition of anonymity the Palestinian source said that the "insistence of Witkoff to release the captives in the first week shows ill intention, and based on previous experience, the Israelis will just go back into full-blown war and sabotage the rest of the deal.' 'Hamas felt betrayed twice by Witkoff' - Palestinian source 'What guarantees do the Palestinians have for an end to the war, Witkoff and the Israelis are not showing an intention or a path to end the war,' the source added. 'Witkoff's only concern is the release of the Israeli captives, but he shows a complete disregard for the continuous killing of thousands Palestinian civilians, majority of whom are women and children, and the suffering of the spread of famine for the two million Palestinians in Gaza" the Palestinian source noted. 'Hamas felt betrayed twice by Witkoff. The first when Israel broke the US guaranteed deal on 2 March by imposing the embargo on aid and then returning to full blown war on 18 March, with Witkoff's and the American administration's full support and cover," the source said. "And the second time, when Hamas released the American-Israeli soldier with an expectation of humanitarian relief and a new approach towards the negotiations, which clearly has not been the case,' they added. Ambiguity around Israeli withdrawal and aid During the ceasefire negotiations, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded that all ten living captives and the eighteen bodies be released on the first day — a condition Palestinian negotiators rejected, fearing Israel would resume its military onslaught immediately after. Hamas is demanding that Israeli forces withdraw to the positions they held before 2 March 2025 — a move short of full withdrawal from the Gaza Strip — but the Palestinian source said Witkoff has failed to specify where, exactly, Israeli troops would redeploy. 'Withdrawal to where? Witkoff is also quite unclear about this,' the Palestinian source told MEE. The Palestinian source also expressed frustration over the lack of transparency in the proposed aid mechanism. 'Witkoff is not clear about the mechanism of distribution of aid,' they added. 'Bahbah negotiated with Hamas, reached a deal with them, and agreed it with Witkoff. Witkoff then met with Dermer and Netanyahu refused it, which lead to Witkoff walking back on his deal' - Palestinian source More broadly, the Palestinian source said the current framework doesn't offer a viable route to end the war. 'What guarantees do the Palestinians have for end of the war? Witkoff and the Israelis are not showing an intention or a path to end the war.' According to the Palestinian source, earlier in the negotiation process, Bishara Bahbah, a Palestinian-American mediator working for the Trump administration, reached an understanding with Hamas and had an agreement in place, which Witkoff had initially signed off on. However, after meeting Israeli Minister Ron Dermer and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Witkoff reversed course and withdrew support for the deal. 'Bahbah negotiated with Hamas, reached a deal with them, and agreed it with Witkoff. Witkoff then met with Dermer and Netanyahu refused it, which lead to Witkoff walking back on his deal,' the Palestinian source said. The remarks reflect growing Palestinian distrust in the negotiation process, with Hamas increasingly sceptical that the proposed deal will deliver a credible and enforceable end to the war. US-Israel coordination and fears of resumed war Reporting from Axios indicates that Witkoff's ceasefire proposal was "fully coordinated with Israel and was a result of his meeting with Netanyahu's confidant Ron Dermer at the White House on Tuesday." Axios also reported that Hamas pushed for language stating that if a permanent ceasefire deal isn't reached within 60 days, the temporary truce would automatically be extended indefinitely. Earlier this week Drop Site news reported that Witkoff's latest ceasefire proposal was crafted with Netanyahu which explicitly does not guarantee an end to Israel's war on Gaza Palestinian negotiators have largely agreed to ceasefire provisions it signed on 17 January which Israel broke on the 18 March resuming its military campaign. In the revised document submitted by Hamas negotiations for a permanent ceasefire would begin immediately once the temporary truce takes effect. A key clause put forward by Hamas calls for an 'independent committee of technocrats' to manage Gaza's affairs after a permanent ceasefire is secured — a move that would see Hamas relinquish governing authority in the Strip. Israeli army tanks take position at the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip on May 29, 2025 (AFP) However, reports indicate that Witkoff and Netanyahu have sought to remove clauses that would see Hamas handover administrative control in Gaza an indication that the war on Gaza could resume after 60 days. Witkoff dismissed Hamas's amendments on Saturday as 'totally unacceptable and only takes us backward.' He demanded that the group accept the existing framework for proximity talks set to begin next week. Earlier on Saturday, Hamas welcomed Witkoff's proposal but said it required key modifications. A Hamas official told Al Jazeera the group had already agreed to an earlier version a week prior, only for Witkoff to return with an altered plan that, according to Hamas, omitted crucial elements. 'We cannot accept such a proposal as a baseline for negotiations,' said senior Hamas official Basem Naim, citing the absence of guarantees for a 60-day ceasefire, humanitarian aid, and full Israeli withdrawal. Surge in humanitarian aid In its formal response, Hamas also demanded urgent humanitarian and reconstruction measures. These include immediate aid access coordinated through the United Nations and organisations such as the Red Crescent, in accordance with an agreement signed on 19 January 2025, when the first ceasefire agreement was signed. During the negotiation phase, final plans will be drawn up to rebuild homes, public facilities and critical infrastructure, alongside aid for those affected by the war. Displaced Palestinians ferry bags of food aid after storming a World Food Programme warehouse in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on May 28, 2025 (AFP) The group called for full restoration of "electricity, water, sanitation, communications and roads, along with the resumption of services at hospitals, health centres, schools and bakeries." Hamas also pressed for unrestricted movement via the Rafah crossing with Egypt and the revival of trade and commercial flows. Its proposal for a permanent ceasefire would entail a "five-to-seven-year halt in hostilities", guaranteed by the US, Egypt and Qatar. While negotiations are ongoing, Washington would remain committed to maintaining the truce and facilitating aid delivery, with a target to conclude talks within 60 days. Ceasefire terms and prisoner exchanges Hamas has stated in its proposal that 'all Israeli military activities in Gaza will cease upon the entry into force" of the ceasefire agreement. Ireland stands by claim Israel committing genocide in Gaza Read More » The group added that during the truce, Israeli military and reconnaissance aircraft would be grounded for 10 hours each day, and for 12 hours on days when prisoner exchanges take place. The proposal also highlighted that the US President is committed to ensuring both sides respect the ceasefire. According to the document, the President 'insists that negotiations during the temporary ceasefire, if successfully concluded by agreement between the parties, will lead to a permanent solution to the conflict.' On the issue of Israeli captives, Hamas outlined that it would release ten living Israeli captives and 18 bodies in return for a number of Palestinian prisoners and bodies, to be determined by mutual agreement. The document says the exchange would take place 'simultaneously and according to an agreed-upon mechanism.' Hamas further pledged to guarantee the 'health, welfare, and security' of Israeli detainees immediately after the ceasefire begins. In return, Israel would be expected to ensure similar treatment for Palestinians held in its prisons and detention centres, 'in accordance with international law and norms.'
Middle East Eye
10 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Arab foreign ministers condemn Israel's ban on West Bank visit
Foreign ministers from several Arab states have denounced Israel's refusal to allow their planned visit to the occupied West Bank this weekend. The Jordanian foreign ministry said the ministers condemned 'Israel's decision to ban the delegation's visit to Ramallah (on Sunday) to meet with the president of the State of Palestine, Mahmud Abbas.' The group, which included ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and Bahrain, was expected to attend alongside the Arab League's secretary-general. Israel announced late on Friday that it would not permit the visit, using its control over the territory's borders and airspace to block the delegation.
