Press TV - Anofficial with the Palestinian Authority (PA) says top Israeli and Saudi officials held a series of secret Egypt-brokered meetings in Cairo, last week, as more signs emerge of warming relations between the two regimes.
The unnamed official, told Emirati daily Khaleej Timeson Friday that the meetings were a significant development in the slowly warming ties between Tel Aviv and Riyadh.
The talks between Israeli and Saudi officials took place at a luxury hotel in Cairo, with Egyptian officials present, dealing with the economic interests of Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, particularly in the Red Sea region, the official said.
He also warned that the Israel-Saudidtente is harming the Palestinians.
The warm relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia are damaging the Palestinian Authority, he said. It seems that Israel is no longer the greatest enemy in the region anymore.
Israel and Saudi Arabia have no diplomatic relations, but they are widely believed to have secret liaisons.
Reports over the past few months say the two regimes are even working behind the scenes to establish formal ties.
On March 4-6, Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was in Cairo, where he met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
Two advisers to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas toldIsraeli i24newsTV channel that bin Salman and Sisi had advised Abbas to accept the so-called deal of the centuryto end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The US peace plan is yet to be unveiled.
The Palestinian president, however, has insisted that he would not accept the US initiative and denounced it as the slap of the century.
Sidelining Washington, Abbas is instead pushing for a globalmultilateralapproach to resolve the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In December 2017, he formally declared that Palestine would no longer accept the US as a mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict due to itsbias towards Tel Aviv.
The announcement came after US President Donald Trump said that Washington was recognizing Jerusalem al-Quds as the capital of Israel and planning to relocatethe American embassy from Tel Aviv to the city.
Separatelyon Friday, Egypts privately-owned newspaper al-Shorouk reported that several Arab countries wereadvising Abbas to acceptwhatever plan the Trump administration put forthor risk regretting it later.
The Americans have notified some Arab countries that Trumps decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem al-Quds waspart of an American effort to persuade Israel, especially the hardliners, to agree to possible concessions to the Palestinians, according to the report.
