FALCON POWERS – The Israeli Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, Eli Cohen, said on Wednesday that “a peace agreement with Saudi Arabia is not important at the moment.”
Cohen emphasized that instead of Saudi Arabia setting conditions for normalization with “Israel,” it is “Israel” that should set conditions for Saudi Arabia.
He added: “Security before peace, peace with Saudi Arabia is not the most important thing now and it can wait. No one makes peace agreements with the weak in the Middle East, the main thing we need to focus on now is security.”
Cohen pointed out that “the Americans want to see two things: the end of the war and a peace agreement with Saudi Arabia. This may be true from a regional perspective, but it is not true at the moment for the state.”
He said the Americans want a political achievement before the elections, but the entire moderate Islamic world, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is now thinking about the Israeli occupation state, and after we finish the decision and also what is happening in the north, we will be free to talk about a peace agreement with Saudi Arabia.
It is worth noting that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on Tuesday that “at this stage, we cannot move forward with normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel under the current circumstances, and the ball is now in Israel’s court.”
Blinken added that they “believe that Israel is capable of moving forward on the path of normalization, but above all it must have a plan to establish a Palestinian state.”
Normalization with Saudi Arabia is part of the Abraham Accords, a step promoted by the United States.
The Israeli army radio reported on Tuesday that the US National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, presented a new proposal to “Israeli” officials on Monday to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia.
According to the radio, Sullivan “presented, during his visit to Israel to officials and chief among them Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a proposal for normalization with Saudi Arabia, the restoration of the Gaza Strip for international cooperation, as well as points that Israel must do in return.”
