Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, rejected statements by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman supporting the Arab peace Initiative, saying it was merely a public relations stunt designed to distract the world.

As Avigdor Liberman, Israel's new defense minister, was appointed and sworn in, the US State Department decided to intervene in internal Israeli politics and use the moment to attack Israel and the Israeli government.

In the wake of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s positive response to Egyptian President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi’s call for peace talks, moderate Arab states have been reaching out diplomatically to Israel and showing some flexibility regarding the Arab Peace Initiative.

A poll conducted among Saudi citizens by the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, an Israeli college, reveals that the Saudi public is far more concerned about the real threats of Iran and the Islamic State group than the perceived Israeli threat.

Prime Minister Netanyahu said that enlisting the help of moderate Arab nations to promote the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process would be a positive development.