Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed that he will suspend plans to annex parts of the West Bank, in exchange for a normalization deal with Saudi Arabia.
Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said that Netanyahu believes that there is a need for a kind of concession on the part of Israel, so that the Saudis feel free to move towards normalization.
Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper indicated that partners in Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc have stated that they won’t stand in the way of normalization efforts with the Saudis, despite the latter’s promise to them to promote annexation policies in the West Bank as part of his coalition agreement with the religious Zionist party.
Netanyahu considers that concluding an agreement with Saudi Arabia would be a great leap towards reaching a comprehensive peace between Israel and the Arab world.
“I hope that we will achieve a full, formal peace with Saudi Arabia, as we did with other Gulf States such as Bahrain and the UAE,” Netanyahu said in an interview with the Jewish Insider newspaper.
Netanyahu was prime minister from 1996 to 1999, then from 2009 to 2021, and after his victory with his allies in the last legislative elections on October 1, Netanyahu is expected to officially announce “the most right-wing government in the history of Israel”.
Four Arab countries normalized relations with Israel within the framework of the so-called “Abrahamic Accords” of 2020, and the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan agreed to establish diplomatic relations with Israel, according to these agreements, which were mediated by the United States.
