Saudi king urges 'fair' Palestinian solution in call with Trump
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RIYADH • Saudi Arabia supports a "fair" solution for the Palestinian cause, King Salman has told President Donald Trump in a phone call, as the American leader praised the kingdom for opening its airspace to Israel-UAE flights.
Saudi Arabia has said it will not follow the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which announced last month it would establish diplomatic relations with Israel, until the Jewish state has signed an internationally recognised peace accord with the Palestinians.
In a phone call with Mr Trump on Sunday, King Salman affirmed the "kingdom's keenness to reach a lasting and fair solution to the Palestinian cause to bring peace", the official Saudi Press Agency reported.
Last week, Saudi Arabia agreed to permit UAE flights to "all countries" to overfly the kingdom, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the launch of regular direct flights linking the UAE with the Jewish state.
The announcement came just days after the first direct commercial flight from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi passed through Saudi airspace, marking the normalisation of Israel-UAE ties under a United States-backed deal known as the Abraham Accords. Allowing flights between Israel and the UAE to cross Saudi airspace saves long detours around the Arabian peninsula.
Riyadh's decision marked another concrete sign of its cooperation with Israel even after it publicly refused to follow the UAE's move.
"President Trump... welcomed the opening of Saudi airspace to flights between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, beginning with last week's historic commercial flight from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi," said a White House readout of the phone call.
Saudi Arabia, the Arab world's biggest economy and home to Islam's holiest sites, faces more sensitive political calculations than the UAE.
Despite its clandestine ties with Israel, a formal recognition of the Jewish state would be seen by Palestinians and their supporters as a betrayal of their cause and hurt the kingdom's image as the leader of the Islamic world, analysts say.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
