WEST BANK (Dispatches) – The Zionist regime and the U.S. are asking Saudi Arabia to carry out series of steps towards full normalization between Riyadh and Tel Aviv, the occupying regime’s media has reported.
Among the proposed steps, it is reported, are allowing the Zionist regime to use Saudi airspace for all flights, not just those heading toPersian Gulf countries, and direct flights between the Israeli-occupied territories and Saudi Arabia for Muslim pilgrims going to Makkah and Madinah.
“We believe that it is possible to have a normalization process with Saudi Arabia,” said the occupying regime’s foreign minister Yair Lapid. “It’s in our interest.” Israeli Army Radio reported Lapid as adding, “We have already said that this is the next step after the Abraham Accords, to talk about a long and careful process. We are working with the U.S. and the Persian Gulf states on this.”
The Zionist minister said that the process of normalization with Saudi Arabia would be a lengthy one with progress coming in small steps, as both sides have security interests at stake.
“This will not happen the same way it did last time,” said Lapid, referring to the so-called Abraham Accords. “We will not wake up one morning suddenly and it will be a surprise. It could be that three foreign ministers after me.”
His comments came as a high-ranking Zionist official reportedly visited Saudi Arabia and met with a senior Saudi official last week, fueling speculation that the two sides could be taking reciprocal steps toward the “normalization” of their relations.
The regime’s media outlets reported on Friday that the unnamed official traveled to the Saudi capital and met a senior Saudi figure inside the royal palace.
Hebrew-language Channel 12 television network described 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 ‘security cooperation’ between the two sides, among other things.
Last month, former head of the regime’s military espionage General Amos Yadlin called for the normalization of relations with Saudi Arabia in the wake of the increasing challenges facing the Zionist regime.
In an article published on the website of Israel’s Channel 12, Yadlin stressed that obstacles to normalization of ties between the occupying regime and the oil-rich kingdom must be overcome as the regime is facing serious security challenges, both internally and externally.