Israel Excludes the Presence of a Diplomatic Mission for the Saudi Ambassador to Palestine

Israel has ruled out the existence of a diplomatic mission in Jerusalem for the new Saudi ambassador to Palestine, whose appointment comes at a time when the United States is trying to establish official relations between Israel and the Kingdom. The Saudi ambassador in Jordan, Naif Al-Sudairi, delivered a copy of his credentials as the extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador of Riyadh to the State of Palestine and as the Kingdom's consul general in Jerusalem, the capital of the State of Palestine, according to the Palestinian news agency (Wafa). This step appears to align with the long-term goal of the Palestinians to establish a state on the lands occupied by Israel in the 1967 war, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Israel considers Jerusalem its capital, a status recognized by the United States during the presidency of Donald Trump in 2017, but other global powers have not taken such a step. Israeli authorities prevent Palestinian diplomatic activity in the city. Saudi Arabia supports the Palestinian cause and refrains from establishing official relations with Israel, but Washington seeks to broker what could be a historic agreement in the Middle East involving the normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.