The Palestinian Authority has held talks with Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United States in advance of the pending deal between Riyadh and Washington, National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi told the World Summit on Counter-Terrorism in Herzliya on Monday.
“It is important that the Palestinians are part of the process,” Hanegbi said as he referenced the deal with Riyadh that would include a normalization deal with Israel and gestures to the Palestinians.
“This Saudi deal requires a dialogue with the Palestinians,” Hanegbi said, explaining that he has been doing this on behalf of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for eight months through the Forum of Five. This forum includes representatives from Israel, the PA, the United States, Jordan, and Egypt.
There has been an attempt through this forum to arrive at security understandings, Hanegbi said, adding that this is the first dialogue of this kind in a decade.
“I have talked at length to the Palestinians, and it has borne fruit,” he said, particularly with respect to the pending Saudi deal.
Advancing agreements
“We asked for the first time since Camp David in 1978” that the Palestinians do not allow this chance to slip through their fingers and that they contribute to the success of the process and benefit from it, Hanegbi said.
“I believe they [the Palestinians] are very active, they are talking with the Americans, they are talking with us, they are talking with the Saudis, on what would be the significant Palestinian component” of the agreement, Hanegbi said.
“We are in favor of a significant Palestinian component, under the clear restrictions put forward by the Prime Minister, that we can’t accept any process that would harm Israel’s security,” Hanegbi said.
“But we are prepared to discuss and consider anything else,” he said.
Hanegbi recalled that the possibility of a Saudi-Israel normalization deal had begun in Ernest in May.
His US counterpart Jake Sullivan, Hanegbi recalled, had informed him that US President Joe Biden had entered into a dialogue with Saudi Arabia to advance an agreement between Riyad and Washington that would include a normalization deal for Israel.
From the start, this has been characterized by the US itself as a ‘long shot,’ or something with only a 50-50% chance of success, he said.
Despite this, he said, the situation has advanced, because all sides recognize the “win-win” nature of the situation, Hanegbi said.
He pointed specifically to Biden’s announcement at the G20 on Saturday of a new energy and electricity corridor between India, the Middle East, and Europe that would include both Israel and Saudi Arabia. Israel would be a critical junction of such a project, he said.
“It’s clear that the vision is being turned into reality,” he said.
It’s significant, Hanegbi said, that as part of the energy project, the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman would sign a document that references Israel and explains that Israel would play a central role in the corridor,
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