Sunday, November 22, 2020
Elder of Ziyon
Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan affirmed that his country "has always supported full normalization with Israel" after a peace plan with the Palestinians.
In an interview on the sidelines of the G20 leaders' summit, Farhan indicated that Saudi Arabia "supports a permanent and comprehensive peace deal that leads to a Palestinian state that comes before normalization."
At first glance, this seems to be no different than the Saudi support for the Arab peace initiative which always envisioned peace with Israel after a two state solution. But the difference is the word "normalization," which was never stated publicly before the Abraham Accords.
Before August, the best Israel could ever hope for was a cold peace with the Arab world, like its peace with Egypt and Jordan. Israel always thirsted for real normalization, and now that word has entered the Arab vocabulary in contexts other than being an expletive.
