Former Saudi general meets with Israeli officials

By Kaamil Ahmed and Abdel-Raouf Arnaut

JERUSALEM (AA) - A senior Israeli official has met with a visiting former Saudi military general,the Israeli Foreign Ministry said Sunday.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said Director-General Dore Gold met with with an “unofficial” Saudi delegation led by Anwar Eshki.

The spokesman, however, declined to give further details about the meeting.

The Times of Israel website, meanwhile, said Eshki met on Saturday with Gold, the head of the army's operations in the occupied Palestinian territories Major-General Yoav Mordechai and several Israeli politicians.

Saudi Arabia does not have diplomatic relations with Israel.

Eshki, who currently heads a Saudi think tank in Jeddah, arrived in Ramallah last week and held talks with Palestinian Prime Minister Rami al-Hamdallah.

Speaking to Israeli Army Radio on Sunday, Eshki said a Palestinian state would be good for Israel's security.

He said that a two-state solution would undermine alleged Iranian attempts to sponsor armed groups in the Middle East.

Arab countries would not recognize Israel until a peace deal was completed with Palestinians, said Eshki, who delegation consisted of businessmen and academics.

Saudi Arabia has long promoted the Arab Peace Initiative proposal for a two-state solution, which would see Israel recognized by its Arab neighbors in exchange for the creation of a Palestinian state, with occupied East Jerusalem as its capital.

Last month, however, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he would not accept the initiative's key condition that Israel withdraw from land occupied during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, including East Jerusalem.