Sources: The US president may formally recognize a Palestinian state during his visit to Saudi Arabia

A Gulf diplomatic source revealed the possibility that President Donald Trump will announce, during his visit to Saudi Arabia, US recognition of a Palestinian state that will be established without the presence of Hamas.

According to him, “such an announcement would completely change the balance of power in the Middle East and attract additional countries to join the Abraham Accords”.

Saudi Arabia will host the Gulf-US summit in mid-May, marking US President Donald Trump’s first visit to the Kingdom since the start of his second term.

The summit is a follow-up to the previous meeting held on May 21, 2017, during his first presidency.

The meeting in Riyadh is generating significant interest, given Trump’s hints that a very important announcement is expected during it.

Experts and diplomats are trying to decipher the nature of the future declaration and the content of the summit, with speculation ranging from security and military agreements to pioneering cooperation in the fields of technology and artificial intelligence.

All Gulf leaders are expected to participate in the summit, with the exception of Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz, who has been absent from public events for a long time due to his health.

However, other opinions cast doubt on this scenario.

According to Ahmed al Ibrahim, a veteran Gulf diplomat, firmly asserts, “I don’t think this is a Palestinian issue… After all, the Egyptian president and the Jordanian king, the two leaders closest to the Palestinian cause, were never invited to the summit”.

He estimates that these are massive economic agreements: “We’re likely to see deals the size of those signed in 2017, which exceeded $400 billion”.

Ahmed al Ibrahim added, “Let’s remember that the UAE has announced investments in the United States worth more than $1 trillion, while Saudi Arabia has committed investments exceeding $600 billion”.

He points to further evidence of the economic nature of the visit, “Trump’s planning to visit the UAE and Qatar immediately after Saudi Arabia is indicative of this… These are dense economies with a tremendous impact on the US market”.

Saudi political expert Ahmed Bushouki agrees with this assessment and links it to an interesting statement by Trump, “The president hinted at what’s happening when he called on Americans to ‘buy stocks now, before the big announcement in the coming days”.