Part of the deal would include the release of hostages and new normalization agreements between Israel and Arab states.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
JANUARY 18, 2024 15:39
Demonstrators carry flags and banners during a protest in support of Palestinians in Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Amman, Jordan November 10, 2023.
(photo credit: REUTERS/JEHAD SHELBAK)
Arab states are collectively working to secure a ceasefire in the IDF’s war on Gaza, which would see the release of Israeli hostages, further normalization of ties with Israel, and the creation of a Palestinian state, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.
An Arab official told the source that the plans could entail Saudi Arabia normalizing ties with Israel, which has been a goal of both the United States and Israel for some time.
“Given the Israeli body politics today, normalization is maybe what can bring Israelis off the cliff,” the official said.
A condition of the deal would be that the US and European governments would formally agree to recognize a Palestinian state. The state would then be allowed full membership in the United Nations.
“The real issue is you need hope for Palestinians, it can’t just be economic benefits or removal of symbols of occupation,” the senior official told the Times. People protest march for hostages marking 100 days since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, at Central Park in New York City, on January 14, 2024. (credit: Arie Leib Abrams/Flash90)
Israel-Saudi normalization goals
The plans come only days after Saudi foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan told the World Economic Forum, “We agree that regional peace includes peace for Israel, but that could only happen through peace for the Palestinians through a Palestinian state.”
Saudi-Israeli normalization had been progressing before October 7, when Hamas launched a mass terror attack on Israel which took the lives of over 1200 people. Advertisement
US and Saudi officials had been discussing Palestinian concessions to the deal, which would include a freeze in settlement expansions in the West Bank and boosting support for the West Bank’s governing Palestinian Authority.
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