Middle East & Africa | Breaking a taboo

Saudi Arabia may accept normal relations with Israel

Binyamin Netanyahu may be getting close to a historic deal

Photo montage showing the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, and the Saudi crown prince, Muhammad bin Salman
Image: AFP/AP
|Jerusalem

FOR YEARS Israel and Saudi Arabia have been partners in all but name. The leaders of the two countries confer in secret, share a rival in Iran, plan joint telecoms infrastructure, do quiet business deals and are members of American-led defence alliances. But while five other members of the Arab League already have agreed to full diplomatic relations with Israel, it has not been that simple for the Saudi kings to break 75 years of taboo against “normalisation” with the oft-reviled Jewish state.

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This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “Normal at last?”

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