<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s Tourism Minister Haim Katz arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for the first such high-level public visit to the kingdom amid talks to secure bilateral ties.<\/p>\n
\u201cKatz is the first Israeli minister to head an official delegation in Saudi Arabia,\u201d his ministry said in a statement, adding he would attend a United Nations World Tourism Organisation event in Riyadh.<\/p>\n
During the two-day visit he is due to hold meetings \u201cwith his counterparts\u201d, Katz\u2019s office said without specifying which countries will be represented in such talks.<\/p>\n
The landmark visit comes as Riyadh sent its first delegation to the occupied West Bank in three decades.<\/p>\n
Nayef al-Sudairi, who was appointed non-resident ambassador to the Palestinian territories last month, held talks Tuesday with senior Palestinian officials including president Mahmud Abbas.<\/p>\n
The diplomatic travels come as the United States presses<\/a> its allies Israel and Saudi Arabia to normalise ties.<\/p>\n Israel has moved closer to the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco following a US-driven diplomatic initiative in 2020 which pushed for normalisation of relations.<\/p>\n Establishing ties with Saudi Arabia \u2014 home to some of Islam\u2019s holiest sites \u2014 would be the grand prize for Israel and change the geopolitics of the Middle East.<\/p>\n