BICOM

A leading news agency in Saudi Arabia has openly criticised the Palestinian Authority (PA) President’s dismissal of an invitation to address the Israeli Knesset by Israel’s Prime Minister last week.

The English-language Saudi Gazette published an editorial saying that PA President Mahmoud Abbas “should not be too quick to dismiss the invitation extended by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu… to address Israel’s parliament”.

Last week, addressing the UN General Assembly, Netanyahu invited Abbas to speak “to the Israeli people in the Knesset in Jerusalem,” and said he would “gladly come to speak [at] the Palestinian parliament in Ramallah”.

Abbas quickly dismissed the invitation, claiming it was not serious and merely a public relations tool.

However, the Saudi Gazette described Netanyahu’s offer as “reminiscent of the one issued by former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin to former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat to visit Israel — and the rest is history”. Sadat addressed the Knesset on Begin’s invitation in 1977, paving the way to a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt two years later, which holds firm today.

The Saudi Gazette noted that Netanyahu “rejects a settlement freeze, will not uproot settlements, rejects the 1967 borders as the basis for talks and rejects any division of Jerusalem”.

Nonetheless, the editorial added: “The Palestinians should note that at the time, Egypt and Israel were mortal enemies, having fought three wars.”

During his speech last week at the UN General Assembly, Netanyahu also said that Israel welcomes the “spirit” of the Saudi-spearheaded Arab Peace Initiative, which proposes a regional rapprochement in return for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Netanyahu also explained “more than ever, many regional countries recognise that Israel is not their enemy but their ally,” and predicted that “in coming years, we will work together openly”.