Sources:

Delegations in Cairo preparing Netanyahu-MbS summit

Senior diplomatic sources in Egypt have revealed that delegations from Arab countries, the United States and Israel are holding intensive meetings in the Egyptian capital Cairo to prepare a summit between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known to many in the West as MbS.

News ID: 442994

Date: 14 January 2019 - 09:12

RNA - The sources revealed to the Khalij Online that at least three meetings had been held over the last 25 days in Cairo between Egyptian, Saudi, US and Israeli officials to work out the details of a meeting between Netanyahu and MbS.

The sources said that the initiative for holding a meeting between MbS and Netanyahu was encouraged by Saudi Arabia’s massive enthusiasm for such a diplomatic encounter.

“There is an official inclination from Saudi officials to open the door for political and public relations with the occupying regime to the highest level that one can possibly imagine,” said the sources in a statement to the online newspaper.

They added that Riyadh was trying to set a precedent for Arab-Israeli relations so that other Arab countries could follow the suit and establish ties with the Tel Aviv regime.

According to Press TV, the sources said there was a mutual consensus among Saudis, the Egyptians and the Americans that there should be a major diplomatic breakthrough in 2019 regarding the state of Israeli-Arab relations, adding that the summit between Netanyahu and MbS could also include US President Donald Trump.

Is it understood that a key theme of the recent meetings in Cairo was to outline plans for selling the Netanyahu-MbS summit to the public in the Arab world, especially in Saudi Arabia.

If the summit between Netnayahu and bin Salman takes places, it would be the first of its kind in the history of Arab-Israeli relations. Most of the Arab countries have isolated Israel since the Six-Day War in 1967 in which the regime occupied more Palestinian and Arab territories.

However, a raft of diplomatic efforts over the past years led by the United States and meant to unite Arab countries and Israel against what Washington calls Iran’s growing influence in the Middle East has helped the Israelis to better reach out to the Arabs.

Netanyahu was in Oman in November to meet the top man in the Sultanate while senior Israeli ministers visited the United Arab Emirates in the same month.

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