Paris Soir - Arab ministers condemn Israel 'ban' on planned West Bank visit

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 Jordanian foreign ministry said.

Ministers from Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had been expected to take part alongside Turkey and the secretary-general of the Arab League.

Israel had announced late Friday that it would not cooperate, effectively blocking the visit as it controls the territory's borders and airspace.

Abbas "intended to host in Ramallah a provocative meeting of foreign ministers from Arab countries to discuss the promotion of the establishment of a Palestinian state," an Israeli official said.

"Such a state would undoubtedly become a terrorist state in the heart of the Land of Israel. Israel will not cooperate with such moves aimed at harming it and its security."

Had the visit gone ahead, the delegation's head, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, would have become the first Saudi foreign minister to visit the West Bank.

Israel this week announced the creation of 22 new Jewish settlements in the West Bank, regarded by the United Nations as illegal under international law and one of the main obstacles to a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

During a visit to one of the new settlement sites on Friday, Defence Minister Israel Katz vowed to build a "Jewish Israeli state" in the Palestinian territory.

- 'Diplomatic confrontation' -

Taking aim at foreign countries that would "recognise a Palestinian state on paper", he added: "The paper will be thrown into the trash bin of history, and the State of Israel will flourish and prosper."

In June, Saudi Arabia and France are to co-chair an international conference at UN headquarters meant to resurrect the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Saudi Arabia was said to have been close to recognising Israel before the start of the Gaza war, and US President Donald Trump, during a recent visit to Riyadh, called normalisation between the countries "my fervent hope and wish".

But de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has repeatedly said Saudi Arabia will not recognise Israel without an independent Palestinian state.

Firas Maksad, a fellow at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, said Israel's rejection of the visit indicated "how far Saudi and Israel have moved from normalisation to diplomatic confrontation".

He added that the planned visit "underscores just how much the Saudi position has shifted away from creating a credible pathway towards a Palestinian state through conditional normalisation with Israel, to one that aims to create such a path via an international coalition in support of Palestinian aspirations".

Saudi Arabia is co-hosting with France a conference at the United Nations headquarters in New York aiming to revive the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

French President Emmanuel Macron previously said he could recognise a Palestinian state at that conference, drawing a sharp rebuke from Israel.

C.Thomas--PS