DOHA — A senior Saudi diplomat said that while there is much focus in the international community on the need for the Palestinian Authority to engage in a comprehensive reform process, a reform of the Israeli government is what is most needed for peace in the region.

“The Palestinians have been reforming for the past 30 years. [Palestinian Authority] President Mahmoud Abbas had put [forward] a robust reform plan that he committed himself to, because this is good for the Palestinians,” said Manal Radwan, a minister in Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry, during an onstage panel discussion at the Doha Forum conference in Qatar on Saturday.

“Saudi Arabia, of course, is committed, and we work on a daily basis with the PA to help in its reform plan, but what we need to really get a sustainable peace and security and an end to this conflict and to implement President Trump’s 20-point peace plan and to implement the Security Council resolution is a reformed Israeli government,” she said.

“We have an Israeli government that opposes the two-state solution. We have an Israeli government that has officials continuously inciting against Palestinians, against Arabs, against Muslims,” Radwan continued. “We don’t see that we have a partner for peace, not even a partner for a sustainable ceasefire. So that is the actual and the important reform that we are hoping to see.”

It was the latest biting criticism of Israel by a senior Saudi figure, coming just hours after the country’s former intelligence chief and royal family member Prince Turki al-Faisal asserted that Israel is the........

© The Times of Israel