Amid a series of high-profile pacts between the Gulf nations and the Jewish state, Prince Turki bin Faisal of Saudi Arabia confounded Israel on Sunday during a Bahrain security summit.
According to the source, in his comments, Faisal scoffed at what he said was a self-promoted image of Israel as 'peace-loving' upholders of high moral principles while incarcerating Palestinians in concentration camps under the flimsiest of security accusations, women and men, young and old, who are already rotting there without recourse to justice.
Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi of Israel spoke remotely after Faisal's comments stating that he would like to express my regret on the comments of the Saudi representative.
He also added that he believes they do not reflect the spirit and changes currently taking place in the Middle East.
The Foreign Minister also went on to claim Palestinian intransigence was the primary obstacle to a deal.
Ashkenazi also mentioned that they have a choice right now with the Palestinians to solve it or not or to proceed to this blame game, The Hill reported.
Based on a report, Dore, the former Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, also weighed in, wherein he accused the prince of dredging up accusations of the past, which a number of which are false. However, Prince Turki countered the statement, sharing that Gold had denigrated the kingdom in television appearances.
The prince also thinks Mr. Dore Gold should be the last one to talk regarding having previous positions and beliefs in the conversation.
Many nations, including Sudan, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates, recently established formal diplomatic negotiations with Israel in United States-brokered deals.
For several decades, most Arab states have boycotted the country in solidarity with Palestine. However, it has moved towards presenting a united front against Iran, Yahoo! News reported in recent years.
According to some reports, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have met back in November in what could have been the very first meeting between the two leaders.
However, several officials from Saudi Arabia have denied that a meeting of such nature ever took place.
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In addition, a confidant of PM Netanyahu had a confrontation with Prince Turki amid the summit shone a light on the continued opposition of may inside Saudi Arabia to Israel. This is despite the state's efforts to promote and reach out to the Jewish groups and other Israel supporters, ABC News reported.
Meanwhile, Ashkenazi repeatedly insisted on Israel's position that Palestinians are to be blamed for nations not reaching a peace deal.
On top of this, former UN ambassador and Netahanyu confidant, Dore Gold, made implications that the remarks by Prince Faisal were all accusations based on false information.
In an attempt to possibly smooth over the differences, Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif al-Zayani emphasized the importance of solving the continuous conflict between Israel and Palestine. He also noted that the two-state solution, stated in the Arab Peace Initiative, is the best solution.
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