Trump: At least five other Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, want to normalize their relations with Israel

Al-Quds Al-Arabi: US President Donald Trump said on Friday that at least five other Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, want to establish diplomatic relations with Israel after Sudan became the region’s last country normalize its links with the Jewish state.

“There are at least five Arab countries that want to join,” Trump told reporters in the White House, expecting Saudi Arabia to normalize its relations with the Jewish state.

Many Arab oil countries have been communicating discreetly with the Israeli authorities for years, but the normalization of relations offers many opportunities, especially economic ones, to those countries that are trying to get rid of the consequences of the emerging Corona virus crisis.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu points out that other Arab countries want to establish relations with Israel, considering that those countries are prioritizing trade opportunities.

Last week, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged Saudi Arabia to “normalize its relations” with Israel, along the lines of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

Saudi Arabia’s recognition of Israel will mark a real turning point in the Middle East. For months, Donald Trump’s government has been lobbying to achieve this, but the Kingdom has made it clear that it will not follow the UAE and Bahrain, which have violated the “Arab consensus” of normalization with the Jewish state to resolve Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

On Wednesday, for the first time since signing the two agreements with Abu Dhabi and Manama, Israel agreed to build thousands of new settlement units in separate parts of the occupied West Bank, and after eight months to freeze settlement activity, in one move condemned by the European powers.

(Agencies)