Alwaght- Palestinian Authority welcomed first Saudi Arabian ambassador on Saturday, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
Al-Sudairi, the kingdom’s current ambassador to Jordan, will also serve as consul general in al-Quds.
Al-Khalidi said the occasion is “an important step that will contribute to further strengthening the strong brotherly relations that bind the two countries and the two brotherly peoples”, Wafa reported.
The Saudi envoy also called the appointment “an important step”, which underscores the desire of King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman “to strengthen relations with the brothers of the State of Palestine and give it a formal boost in all areas”, he said in video broadcast by the Saudi state-affiliated Al-Ekhbariya channel.
The file for the Palestinian Territories has traditionally been handled by Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Amman.
Palestinian analyst Talal Okal said the new appointment is a step towards an official Saudi representation office in the occupied West Bank.
“It is also a message Saudi Arabia was committed to the rights of the Palestinians in a fully sovereign state,” Okal said.
The ambassador’s appointment occurred while the United States is looking to normalize Saudi Arabia's relations with the occupying Israeli regime.
The US, Israeli and Saudi officials, however, have said any such deal is a long way off, as a number of thorny issues – from Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank, to Saudi nuclear power development – stand in its way.
