Saudi Arabia’s strong message, this time to Israel after the Emirates

If Israel annexes the West Bank, it will lose all chances of returning to normal relations with Arab countries, said Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman. Earlier, the United Arab Emirates had given such a warning to Israel. According to a report published by the Israeli media Kan News, the Saudi Crown Prince made these comments during a meeting with UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed. Basically, Riyadh has supported Abu Dhabi’s tough stance on Israel’s occupation of the West Bank. Several countries, including the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, have normalized relations with Israel on the condition that they suspend their plans to re-occupy the West Bank in 2020. Meanwhile, Israel is finalizing the outline of including the West Bank on its map without any hesitation. Recently, the country’s Finance Minister claimed at a press conference that most of the West Bank, except for a few areas, will be made part of Israeli sovereignty. He claims that the move is being taken to permanently erase the possibility of a Palestinian state. On July 23, the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, approved the formal annexation of the West Bank to Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party and other parties in his coalition were seen expressing great joy at the parliament’s decision. It is worth noting that Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967. Then, in the 1990s, under the Oslo Accords, the territory was divided into three parts with the aim of transferring control to the Palestinian Authority. That 5-year plan never saw the light of day. For the past thirty years, the West Bank has been divided into these three parts, without giving any part to Palestine.