RIYADH (Dispatches) – For some time, there has existed a Zionist-Saudi commercial relationship as businesspeople from the Israeli-occupied territories use the Zionist regime’s passports to enter the kingdom, carrying out “big deals” while Saudi businesspeople and investment funds seek investment in the occupied territories, Globes has revealed.
According to Arab48.com, Globes reported an informed Israeli source stating, “We have indirect relations with Saudi Arabia for more than 20 years. I do not remember that there had been economic development like what we are witnessing these days.”
Such relations have historically been carried out behind closed doors and mostly through firms registered in European or other countries, where security and civilian deals were reached and signed between businesspeople from the two sides.
For several months, Saudi Arabia has allowed businesspeople from the occupied territories to enter its soil using special entry permission as well as their Israeli passports.
Globes has revealed that the ban on the entry of Israelis had been recently lifted, and Zionists have started obtaining entry visas to Saudi Arabia, pointing out that tens of Zionist businesspeople visited Riyadh and other cities.
Meanwhile, a high-ranking Zionist regime official reportedly visited Saudi Arabia and met with a senior Saudi official this week, fueling speculation that the two sides could be taking reciprocal steps toward the “normalization” of their relations.
Israeli media reports on Friday said the official traveled to the Saudi capital and met inside the royal palace with a senior Saudi official.
Channel 12 interpreted the visit as a sign that relations between Riyadh and Tel Aviv are “warming up”.
According to the channel, the visit was meant to coordinate cooperation between the two sides, among other things.
In 2020, the occupying regime’s then-premier Benjamin Netanyahu visited Riyadh and met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.
The year saw Washington brokering “normalization” of relations between the regime and some Arab states including the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, Saudi Arabia’s key Arab allies in the region.