Riyadh - Anwar Eshki, a retired Major General in the Saudi army, said Monday that Saudi Arabia will open an embassy in Israel if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepts the Arab Peace Initiative.

During an interview with Al-Jazeera, Eshki was asked: “How many years do you think it will be until we see a Saudi embassy in Tel Aviv?”

Answering the question, Eshki said: “you can ask Mr. Netanyahu. If he announces that he accepts the initiative and gives all rights to Palestinians, Saudi Arabia will start to make an embassy in Tel Aviv.”

The retired general went further to declare that “we do not like Israel becoming isolated in the area.”

One of the TV program’s anchors accused Eshki and the Saudi government of ignoring the suffering of Palestinians, arguing: “You are willing to take military action in Yemen, but you never take any kind of step to physically protect the Palestinians in Gaza when they are being bombed.”

Reacting to this allegation, Eshki said: “I told the Iranians about that: ‘you support the Palestinians by weapons, but we support them with money. When we support the Palestinians with money, we want them to live well, and you give them weapons to destroy themselves.”

Later, Eshki was asked: “how do you think Palestinians feel when they hear you refer to Benjamin Netanyahu as a strong leader and a logical leader?”

He answered: “I talked about a strong leader and logical leader because it does not mean strong against Arabs. I said he is strong in his country.”

73-year-old Eshki is the Chairman of the Middle East Center for Strategic and Legal Studies and a former consultant of the Saudi prince and ambassador in the US, Bandar bin Sultan. In June, he shook hands with Israel Foreign Ministry Director-General Dore Gold during a conference of the Council on Foreign Relations.