Palestine's Top Diplomat Says Saudis Cannot Help Revive Israeli-Palestinian Peace Talks

UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) - Saudi Arabia cannot do anything that will help revive peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al Maliki told Sputnik.

"I don't see how such Saudi dimension could contribute to the revival of talks between Israel and Palestine," Maliki said on the margins of the UN General Assembly (UNGA). "The Saudis are not really brokers."

The foreign minister further remarked that the United Nations should do more to promote peace between Palestine and Israel, noting that at the moment it does not do enough.

"They should do more, they have to do more, unfortunately they're not doing enough," Maliki said regarding the United Nation's role in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Maliki's comments come as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remarked that establishing formal ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia would ultimately help to "advance a genuine peace between Israel and the Palestinians."

Earlier in April, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang relayed to his Israeli and Palestinian counterparts that China was ready and willing to assist in facilitating talks between both parties. Exercising its diplomatic muscles, China more recently showed its ability to ease tensions after helping Saudi Arabia and Iran restore its own diplomatic ties that had been cut in 2016.

Talks With Lavrov Still on The Books

Speaking to the postponed UNGA meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Maliki told Sputnik he still fully intends to visit Moscow for talks with his counterpart.

"There is a pending visit by me to Moscow to meet with Lavrov. We scheduled that last month but for changes in the schedule of Lavrov we decided to postpone it until after the General Assembly," Maliki said.

He also said he hopes to see Lavrov at the UN General Assembly before the Palestinian delegation left New York on Thursday. "Usually we do meet every year, but until this moment it's not really scheduled. I hope it will happen before we leave," he said.