An editorial in a major Saudi Arabian newspaper called on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to accept Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent invitation to address the Knesset, The Jerusalem Post reported Monday.
The editors of the English-language Saudi Gazette said that Netanyahu’s overture, made at the United Nations last week, recalled the invitation then-Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin offered to Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in the 1970s, which led to the signing of the Camp David peace treaty.
“For all its shortcomings, Camp David demonstrated that negotiations with Israel were possible and that progress could be made through sustained efforts at communication and cooperation,” the editors pointed out.
While the editorial raised possible concerns about Netanyahu’s sincerity, it noted that such charges greeted Begin’s invitation as well, which Sadat ultimately accepted. “The Palestinians should note that at the time, Egypt and Israel were mortal enemies, having fought three wars,” the editors wrote.
The editorial in the Gazette, which in 2014 had a total circulation of about 55,000, comes as Saudi media outlets are softening their portrayal of Israel amid growing public ties between representatives of both nations.
Change in Israeli-Saudi relations has been slow but persistent. Anwar Eshki, a former general who has served in senior positions in the Saudi military and foreign ministry, visited Israel in July as part of a delegation of Saudi academics and businessmen. Israeli Foreign Ministry Director-General Dore Gold gave an interview last year with a Saudi website, and Israel’s ambassador to Washington Ron Dermer was likewise recently interviewed by the Saudi media. Gold and Eshki brought the Israeli-Saudi relationship to the forefront when they publicly shook hands last year.
In addition to improving relations with Saudi Arabia, Israel has also experienced a warming of ties with Egypt, opened a diplomatic mission in the United Arab Emirates, and reconciled with Turkey, a non-Arab Muslim nation, within the past year.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry visited Israel in July to offer his government’s assistance in restarting peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. Shoukry’s visit marked the first time an Egyptian foreign minister had visited Israel since 2007, and highlighted the closer ties that have been forged in the last few years under the leadership of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Also in July, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin attended a reception at Egypt’s embassy in Tel Aviv in honor of Egypt’s National Day.
Cairo and Jerusalem have also increased military and intelligence cooperation in order to combat the Islamic State’s affiliate in the Sinai Peninsula and Hamas. Egypt has been destroying underground tunnels between Sinai and the Gaza Strip in order to prevent the smuggling of weapons and fighters between the two groups, which have strong ties. ISIS forces in the Sinai perpetrated major attacks against Egypt, and both Egyptian and Israeli intelligence agencies have noted that Hamas and ISIS cooperate extensively. Hamas has both trained ISIS fighters and provided them with medical care.
In an August interview with the Financial Times, Gold explained that moderate Sunni Arab states “increasingly see the Middle East through the same prism as Israel.” About the same time, Ayoub Kara, a Druze politician from the Likud Party and Israel’s leading envoy to the Arab world, told Tablet Magazine that “our relations with our neighbors are the best they’ve ever been.” Kara said that he could even envision Israel joining a mutual defense pact with the eight members of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
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