Exclusive – Saudi Arabia is building an embassy in Israël

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has begun the construction of a gigantic embassy in Israël, probably the most important in Tel-Aviv.

Officially, the two states do not maintain diplomatic relations because of the expulsion by Israël of the majority of its Palestinian population in 1948 (al-Nakba).

However, the Quincy Pact, signed between President Roosevelt and King Abdelaziz in 1945, and renewed by President Bush and King Fahd in 2005, stipulates amongst other things that the Kingdom would not oppose the Jewish homeland in Palestine (future state of Israël) [1].

It was not the United States, but King Abdallah who financed the Israeli operation «Cast Lead» against the Gaza Strip in 2008-09 [2]. This rapprochement put an end to the «Periphery doctrine» according to which Tel-Aviv sought to unify the non-Arab actors in the region (Iran, Turkey, Ethiopia) against the Arab countries.

President Shimon Peres spoke by video link before the Gulf Security Council, in November 2013. The members of the Council were not able to ask him their questions directly, but via the intermediary of Terje Rød-Larsen [3].

Currently, the two countries are fighting a war together in Yemen, from a command centre in the non-recognised state of Somaliland [4]. The common “Arab” Defence Force reproduces the concept of the Baghdad Pact, which was also under the military command of a non-member state (in this case, the United States).

They are planning together several operations for the exploitation of oil reserves in Yemen and the Horn of Africa [5].

King Salmane has nominated Prince Walid Ben Talal (5th world fortune with Citigroup, Mövenpick, Four Seasons) as the Kingdom’s next ambassador in Tel-Aviv.