Overview
- Prince Faisal bin Farhan led foreign ministers from Egypt, Jordan and other Arab nations to Ramallah on Sunday for talks with President Mahmoud Abbas.
- This marks the first Saudi cabinet-level mission to the occupied West Bank since 1967, underscoring an elevated engagement with the Palestinian Authority.
- Riyadh presents the trip as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s push for international recognition of Palestinian statehood as the Gaza war continues.
- Saudi Arabia and France will co-chair a high-level conference in New York next month aimed at reviving the two-state solution and encouraging wider recognition of Palestine.
- The trip unfolds during growing European recognition of a Palestinian state by Ireland, Spain and Norway and Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz’s pledge to build a Jewish state through expanded West Bank settlements.