Zain Khalil
22 February 2023•Update: 23 February 2023
JERUSALEM
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said achieving peace with Saudi Arabia would end the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Netanyahu made the statement in his speech at the Hartog National Security Conference in Tel Aviv Tuesday evening, which was also attended by former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.
"If we have the upper hand, I think we can expand the circle of peace, and if we expand the circle of peace to Saudi Arabia, I think we will actually end the Arab-Israeli conflict," Netanyahu said.
"This means we have to work not from the inside-out to solve the Palestinian problem,” he added.
"I believe that we can reach a breakthrough if the Saudi leadership decides that they want to be a part of it officially. In an unofficial way, they are already part," Netanyahu said.
The Israeli premier also said expanding normalization deals between Israel and Arab countries would be a shield against Iran.
Israel is Iran's arch-foe in the region, and regularly accuses it of seeking to build a nuclear bomb, a claim denied by Tehran, which says its program is designed for peaceful purposes.
There was no comment yet from Saudi Arabia on Netanyahu's remarks.
Saudi Arabia does not have diplomatic relations with Israel and opposes normalization with Tel Aviv until ending the decades-long Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.
Under US sponsorship, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain signed agreements to normalize their ties with Israel in September 2020. The move was followed later by Sudan and Morocco.
Before 2020, Israel had two peace deals with Egypt in 1979 and with Jordan in 1994.
* Writing by Ahmed Asmar
