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SAUDI ARABIA and the United Arab Emirates have slammed the “racist” remarks of Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s remarks earlier this week.
In a speech made hours after a summit designed to ease tensions between Israelis and the Palestinians had concluded, Mr Smotrich said: “There is no such thing as a Palestinian nation. There is no Palestinian history. There is no Palestinian language.”
Outrage at the remarks is now spreading across the Arab world and beyond.
Saudi Arabia denounced what it called Smotrich’s “offensive and racist statements.”
The despotic kingdom does not have formal diplomatic ties with Israel.
The condemnation from the Arab states comes hours after Israeli lawmakers repealed a 2005 act today that saw four Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank dismantled at the same time as Israeli forces withdrew from the Gaza Strip.
The development is likely to pave the way for an increased number of settlements in those West Bank areas and accelerate the colonisation of Palestinian land.
