Saudi Arabia rejected repeated requests from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to visit the kingdom before US President Joe Biden’s trip to Israel, the West Bank and Saudi Arabia, according to an unsourced Channel 12 report.
Abbas reportedly asked the Saudis several times to come and visit before Biden’s trip and was refused. Finally, a few days ago, he was granted a short phone conversation with Riyadh’s King Salman, but still no visit.
This comes against the background of reports that Saudi Arabia will take steps toward warming ties with Israel, despite constant Palestinian appeals to regional states not to warm relations with Israel in the absence of substantive progress toward Palestinian statehood.
Channel 12 also reports that Iran is stepping up pressure on Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustapha Al-Kadhimi, the ninth participant at Biden’s planned meeting with Arab leaders, trying to convince him not to attend.
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