Maariv – Adapted

A delegation from the Palestinian Authority (PA) visited Saudi Arabia last week in order to discuss with the Saudi government potential outcomes for the Palestinians should there be a normalization between Saudi Arabia and the Israeli occupation.

The Palestinians put forward demands that the United States support the UN's recognition of the Palestinian State, reopen its consulate in the eastern part of Jerusalem, and repeal congressional legislation designating the Palestinian Authority as a terrorist organization. Also, they suggested the USA support the transfer of lands from Area C under the Occupation to Palestinian sovereignty as well as the demolition of illegal settlement outposts. Not only this, but the occupation return to territories occupied in 1967 should be considered.

The permanent Palestinian attitude is the adamant rejection of any normalization between the occupying entity and Arab States since it would entail the loss of the entity's long-standing hold on relations with the Arab world, given their aversion to resolving the conflict with it. In the past, Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abass) has additionally declined Ibn Salman's plea to approve the development of ties between Saudi Arabia and the entity, which caused Ibn Salman's engagement.

As a result, it appears that the Palestinians are adopting a new strategy this time. They understand that they cannot halt the "normalization train", and the price of a hard and prolonged public battle with Ibn Salman would cost them too much. They will therefore attempt to gain substantial and consistent gains from normalization that neither Israel nor the United States can reverse.

Since this issue is clear-cut for the Palestinians, they object to it as much as they can. On their side, they have no desire to stop the struggle with Israel, which is aware of their existence and provides them with a source of wealth on a global scale. They believe that peace will only come when Israel is destroyed militarily or internally.