BICOM

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held secret talks with Saudi Arabia in 2014 about relaunching Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, rebuilding Gaza and confronting Iran.

Israel’s Channel 13 News reported on Tuesday evening that after the 2014 conflict in Gaza, Netanyahu held 10 hours of discussions with Saudi National Security Adviser Prince Bandar bin Sultan in a third country. At the meeting, Saudi Arabia proposed a joint diplomatic initiative to update the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, relaunch the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and a Saudi-led international effort for the reconstruction of Gaza.

Despite both Netanyahu and Prince Bandar agreeing to start preparing for a summit at the UN and to draft a joint document, the Saudis asked Israel to show more flexibility when it presented its version of the document. The talks collapsed when Netanyahu refused to go further. Saudi Arabia and Israel still have no formal diplomatic relations, but behind the scenes, relations have rapidly improved in recent years because of shared security interests.

Prime Minister Netanyahu arrived in Poland last night to attend the Warsaw Conference that will start today. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last month announced the two-day conference saying that foreign ministers from around the world would come to Poland to discuss the “destabilising influence” of Iran in the Middle East.

Netanyahu said that Iran, and not Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, would be the centrepiece of talks at the summit, and criticised European countries for continuing to work with Iran. “Iran is sending terrorists to European capitals and at the same time … some Western European governments are helping Iran. It’s just mind boggling,” he said.

UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt will attend the summit, while France and Germany are sending junior ministers or senior officials. Federica Mogherini, the EU’s foreign policy chief, is not attending the summit. The Middle East is represented by 11 states, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, Tunisia, Egypt and the UAE. The Palestinian Authority was invited but refused to attend.