The Israeli government has barred foreign ministers from a number of Arab states, including Jordan and Saudi Arabia, from visiting the Israeli-occupied West Bank to meet with Palestinian leaders, the Jordanian government said on Saturday.
A Jordanian foreign ministry statement said the delegation had planned to meet in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Sunday with Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the territory. A visit by such high-ranking Arab officials to the West Bank would have been very unusual.
The Israeli government refused to comment.
Among those slated to attend was Faisal bin Farhan, the Saudi foreign minister. He would have been the first Saudi foreign minister to visit the West Bank in recent memory, according to Palestinian officials. Officials from Bahrain and Egypt had also been expected.
The visiting officials had planned to confer with Mr. Abbas ahead of a June conference led by France and Saudi Arabia, expected to take place in New York, to discuss the creation of an independent Palestinian state. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, is strongly opposed to the idea.
But Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza has already prompted a few European countries — including Spain, Norway and Ireland — to formally recognize a state of Palestine in the hopes of jump-starting the long-dormant Middle East peace process. Since the war began almost 20 months ago, Israel has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians in Gaza, a second Palestinian territory, according to local health officials who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
The war began after Hamas led the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel. About 1,200 people were killed, mostly civilians, and about 250 people were taken hostage, according to Israel.
Mr. Abbas leads the more moderate Fatah faction, which rivals Hamas and cooperates with Israel on security. In 2007, Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip by force, ejecting Mr. Abbas. But the Palestinian Authority hopes to ultimately reinstate its rule there.
Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war and has occupied it ever since. Nearly three million Palestinians live in the territory alongside roughly 500,000 Israeli settlers. The Israeli authorities wield enormous control over the lives of Palestinians who live there, including by determining who can enter and leave.
Palestinians, joined by much of the international community, say the territory should become part of a Palestinian state. But that hope has steadily dwindled over time. Israel’s decades-long rule over the West Bank has become increasingly entrenched and its government firmly opposes Palestinian independence.
Israel has drastically tightened control over the West Bank in the shadow of the war in Gaza, conducting numerous deadly raids targeting militants. New Israeli checkpoints regulating the movement of Palestinians have sprung up throughout the territory, often making daily travel between Palestinian towns and cities difficult and uncertain.
Israeli forces have also displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians from two major Palestinian cities in the northern West Bank, demolishing buildings and erecting gates that are watched over by soldiers. Israeli officials have justified the new policies as essential security measures.
In recent months, resource-rich Saudi Arabia has increased its financial support for the Palestinian Authority even as leaders of the Gulf kingdom have mulled whether to normalize ties with Israel. In turn, Mr. Abbas has carried out some political reforms at the request of the Saudi government, including the appointment of a longtime adviser, Hussein al-Sheikh, as deputy.
Alongside successive U.S. administrations, Mr. Netanyahu has long sought normal diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia, which he sees as a potential crowning achievement in a series of normalization accords with other Arab states signed during his time in office.
Rawan Sheikh Ahmadcontributed reporting.
Aaron Boxerman is a Times reporter covering Israel and Gaza. He is based in Jerusalem.
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