Soccer match, Abbas visit to Riyadh a sign of warming ties

After months of tensions, the Palestinian Authority and Saudi Arabia seem to be moving toward improving bilateral relations.Tuesday’s soccer match between the two sides – hailed by the PA as a “historic” event – is seen by Palestinian political analysts as a sign that the two sides have decided to lay their differences aside.PA President Mahmoud Abbas and senior Palestinian officials went out of their way to make the Saudi national soccer team feel welcome in Ramallah.Palestinians who were planning to protest the visit of the Saudi team on the pretext that it’s in the context of Arab normalization with Israel were summoned by the Palestinian security forces and warned to stay away from the stadium where the match was being held.Abbas and several officials made it a point to thank Saudi King Salman bin Abdel Aziz and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for allowing their team to travel to the West Bank, despite protests by several Palestinians and Arabs who accused the Saudis of violating the Arab boycott of Israel.“The visit of the Saudi national soccer team to Ramallah indicates that the Saudis want to improve their relations with the Palestinians,” said Munir Toubasi, a Ramallah-based political analyst. “The visit is also a diplomatic victory for President Abbas and the Palestinian Authority because it shows that contrary to some reports, Saudi Arabia has not turned its back on the Palestinians.”Abbas was scheduled to arrive in Riyadh on Tuesday for talks with the king and crown prince. The last time Abbas was in Riyadh was in May, when he attended a meeting of Arab and Organization of Islamic Cooperation leaders to seek their support for the Palestinians ahead of US President Donald Trump’s yet-to-be-announced Mideast peace plan, also known as the “Deal of the Century.”Abbas was also seeking Arab and Islamic financial aid in the aftermath of Israel’s decision to deduct payments made by the Palestinians to families of security prisoners and Palestinians killed during attacks against Israel. The money was cut from tax revenues collected by the Israeli government on behalf of the PA.Since then, however, relations between the PA and Saudi Arabia have witnessed tensions, mainly because of Palestinian claims that the Saudis have been engaging in normalization with Israel. Some Palestinians also did not feel comfortable with the close relations between the Saudi crown prince and the Trump administration.TENSIONS BETWEEN the two sides reached their peak last June, when Saudi Arabia announced its intention to attend the US-led economic workshop in Bahrain, where the Trump administration unveiled the “Peace to Prosperity” economic part of the “Deal of the Century.” The Palestinians had called on the Arabs and Muslims to boycott the workshop.During some anti-Israel and anti-US demonstrations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip over the past two years, some Palestinians burned photos of the Saudi monarch and his crown prince, further increasing tensions between Ramallah and Riyadh.In another sign of increased tensions between the two sides, a Lebanese newspaper with close links to the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terror group claimed last May that Mohammed bin Salman had offered Abbas $10 billion if he accepts Trump’s peace plan.Referring to meetings between the Saudi crown prince and Abbas in late 2017, the newspaper quoted Salman as asking Abbas: “What is the annual budget of your entourage?” Abbas replied: “I’m not a prince to have my own entourage.”According to the report, Abbas rejected the offer, saying it would “mean the end of my political life.”A few weeks later, Abbas received a phone call from King Salman bin Abdel Aziz wishing him good health after the PA president was hospitalized in Ramallah for medical checkups.Last month the Saudi monarch again phoned Abbas, this time to condemn Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pre-election pledge to apply Israeli sovereignty to the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea. During the phone call, the king renewed his country’s support for the Palestinian cause under Abbas’s “wise leadership.”Abbas, for his part, was quick to phone the Saudi king last month to condemn recent terror attacks against Saudi Arabia, including the drone attack on the Saudi Aramco oil facilities.Abbas, according to PA officials, told the Saudi monarch that the Palestinians stand alongside Saudi Arabia in the war on terrorism.“The phone conversations between the two leaders helped ease tensions between Ramallah and Riyadh,” said another Palestinian political analyst.“By sending the Saudi soccer team to play in the West Bank, the Saudis are sending a message to Abbas that the tensions between the two sides have ended.”Abbas’s adviser, Majdi al-Khaldi, said on Tuesday that the PA president’s two-day visit to Saudi Arabia was “extremely important.” The talks, he said, will focus on the latest developments in the Palestinian arena, bilateral relations and regional issues. Khaldi and other PA officials said that Abbas was planning to ensure continued Saudi support for the Palestinians in their conflict with Israel and the Trump administration.The Saudis say they have provided the Palestinians with more than $6b. in economic and humanitarian aid between 2000 and 2018. Saudi Arabia announced last month that it would contribute $50m. to UNRWA – a move that was received with a sigh of relief in Ramallah, particularly in the wake of the Trump administration’s decision to halt US financial contributions to the agency.A PA official said on Tuesday that the Saudis need the Palestinians as much as the Palestinians need them. The Saudis, he said, are facing widespread criticism from many Arabs because of their role in the Yemen Civil War.“They want the Palestinians to be on their side,” the official added. “The Palestinians, on the other hand, need the political and financial backing of Saudi Arabia so that they could confront Israel and the Trump administration’s schemes in the region.”