Saudi foreign minister to make rare, landmark visit to Ramallah amid push for Palestinian statehood

ANKARA

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan will lead a delegation representing the Arab-Islamic ministerial committee to visit Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on Sunday as international efforts for Palestinian statehood intensify.

The Saudi-run Al-Arabiya television reported that Prince Faisal will lead the committee, tasked to mobilize international efforts to end the Israeli war on Gaza and create political horizon for ending Israeli occupation, to meet top Palestinian officials, including President Mahmoud Abbas.

His visit also comes as preparations intensify for a UN conference in New York next month. The conference, to be chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, will discuss the prospect of a two-state solution to the conflict.

His visit marks the first-ever visit by a top Saudi diplomat to the Palestinian territory since 1967.

Earlier, Palestinian ambassador to the Saudi Arabia, Mazen Ghoneim, told Saudi state-run Al-Ikhbariya television that the foreign minister would be joined by the top diplomats from Egypt, Jordan and other countries.

“The ministerial visit… is considered a clear message. The Palestinian cause is a central issue to Arabs and Muslims,” Ghoneim added.

The delegation's trip follows the committee's recent Madrid meeting, where members stressed implementing a two-state solution based on June 4, 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as Palestine's capital, in line with relevant UN resolutions.

Israel has pursued a devastating offensive in Gaza since October 2023, killing more than 54,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children. Aid agencies have warned about the risk of famine among the enclave's more than 2 million population.