As Arab-Israeli normalisation expands, where do Palestinians fit?

As Saudi Arabia and Israel gear towards a normalisation deal, Palestinians demand an end to the occupation first.

Nayef al-Sudairi, Saudi Arabia's first-ever Saudi ambassador to the Palestinian Authority, left, speaks with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, during their meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023
Nayef bin Bandar al-Sudairi, Saudi Arabia's first ambassador to Palestine, left, speaks with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on September 27, 2023 [Majdi Mohammed/Reuters]

Leaders from Saudi Arabia and Israel have been working towards normalising relations. The Saudi kingdom, which supports Palestinian statehood, says it hopes normalisation would ease Palestinians’ lives. But during an address at the United Nations General Assembly, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said peace can prevail in the Middle East only when Palestinians have full, legitimate and national rights. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition has been adamant in making no concessions to the Palestinians. So where do Palestinians fit in as Arab-Israeli relationships change?

In this episode: 

  • Mustafa Barghouti (@MustafaBarghoti), general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Sarí el-Khalili, Sonia Bhagat and our host Malika Bilal. David Enders fact-checked this episode.

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our lead of audience development and engagement is Aya Elmileik, and Adam Abou-Gad is our engagement producer.

Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.

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Source: Al Jazeera