Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir has denied there are relations between Riyadh and Jerusalem, in an apparent response to Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz making the first public disclosure of such ties.
Jubeir told Egypt’s CBC television station on Monday: “There are no relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. There is the Arab peace initiative, which shows the road map to reach peace and establish normal relations between Israel and Arab states.”
The initiative calls for a complete withdrawal from the territories Israel captured in 1967 in exchange for full diplomatic ties with Arab and Muslim states.
Jubeir’s statement appeared to show there was still some Saudi caution about acknowledging the ties, impelled by a common interest in confronting Iranian influence in the region.
But that reticence could be changing.
Israeli observers say it was very significant that a Saudi-owned website, Elaph, last week published an interview with IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot.
In the interview, Eisenkot said: “We are ready to exchange experiences with Saudi Arabia and other moderate Arab countries and exchange intelligence information to confront Iran. There are many shared interests between us and Saudi Arabia.”
On Sunday, Steinitz gave the first official confirmation of long-rumored secret contacts when he told Army Radio that “ties are developing” with Riyadh and other Arab or Muslim states, but that Israel respected their desire to keep them under wraps.
