Posted on 08/29/23
| News Source: Times of Israel
Saudi Arabia has reportedly proposed renewing its aid to the Palestinian Authority in a possible sign that Riyadh is looking to coax Ramallah into backing its effort to normalize relations with Israel.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman first made the offer to renew aid — frozen completely in 2016 amid graft allegations — when PA President Mahmoud Abbas visited the Gulf kingdom in April, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, citing unnamed Saudi officials.
A deal with Jerusalem would likely be unpopular for many Saudis given the strong pro-Palestinian sentiment in the Gulf country. Therefore, a stamp of approval from Ramallah on a normalization deal with Israel could help mitigate public blowback in Saudi Arabia and in the Muslim world more broadly.
At the same time, the PA’s legitimacy among Palestinians is at one of its lowest points in years due to allegations of corruption and Abbas’s refusal to hold presidential elections since 2005. Accordingly, Riyadh might need more than Ramallah’s acquiescence in order to sell the deal at home and abroad.
The crown prince, colloquially known as MBS, said the funding would be renewed if Abbas managed to reign in on terror groups in the West Bank and restore control over PA territories beyond the Green Line. The Saudi leader also promised Abbas that any deal with Israel would not harm efforts to establish a Palestinian state, current Saudi officials and former Palestinian officials briefed on the talks told the WSJ.