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Source: https://www.memri.org/reports/saudi-journalist-suggests-dropping-hostility-towards-israel
Saudi Journalist: Time to Relinquish the Belligerent Discourse Against Israel
(MEMRI) On Nov. 2, 2018, in the Saudi government daily 'Okaz, journalist and legal expert Osama Yamani wrote: "A friend said to me: 'Why don't the Arabs [adopt] a new way of thinking instead of the one they constantly repeat in such a loathsome and impractical manner?....We fight Israel and try to eliminate it, when it is an existing fact, a tangible entity with international relations and friendly ties with most of the world's countries. We strive to eliminate a country that has power and the ability to defeat anyone who attacks it or threatens its existence.'" "'In the Gaza Strip Hamas grants no human rights, and in the West Bank there is no progress and conditions are constantly deteriorating. All this is in the name of steadfastness and confronting [Israel], which have yielded only disappointment and division....The late [Egyptian President] Sadat rejected the baseless slogans and restored Sinai to his country through negotiations, instead of with slogans, bluster, heroics and songs of glory.'" "At this point...I asked my friend: 'How do you think the [Palestinian] issue can be solved?' He smiled and said: 'You still think there is an issue? The issue vanished with the emergence of two states [in the West Bank and Gaza] and a diaspora that mostly does not wish to return.'"