Israeli passports cannot visit the kingdom': Saudi Arabia pushes back after Israel allows travel to country

Israeli passports cannot visit the kingdom': Saudi Arabia pushes back after Israel allows travel to country

A day after Israel announced that it would allow its passport holders to travel to Saudi Arabia in certain cases, the country pushed back.

On Sunday, Israeli Interior Minister Aryeh Deri signed an order allowing Israelis to visit Saudi Arabia for business meetings or to travel to the Saudi city of Mecca for religious pilgrimages. Israelis typically visit Mecca using temporary papers from Jordan.

But, on Monday, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan reaffirmed to CNN the country’s stance that Israeli citizens are not permitted to visit the nearby gulf nation.

“Our policy is constant. We don’t have relations with Israel, and holders of Israeli passports cannot visit the kingdom for now,” bin Farhan said.

The foreign minister said that, in order to begin discussions about travel, there must be a comprehensive treaty between Israel and the Palestinians, an issue that has caused many Arab nations, excluding Jordan and Egypt, to not allow travel with an Israeli passport.

“We strongly encourage the reaching of a solution,” he said. “When a peace treaty between the Palestinians and Israel is reached, the question of Israel’s integration in the region will be on the table, I believe.”

The news comes a day before President Trump is set to release a peace plan between Israel and Palestinians that he said is meant to be a “suggestion” to the two parties, although the Palestinians have preemptively rejected the deal.