Some Arab states have secret talks with Israel

According to Reuters, Israel is holding secret talks with some Arab states that deny it. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said today that their talks are regarding establishing diplomatic ties based on a common fear of Iran.

Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are among those states. The two nations swiftly denied such talks with Israel.

Most Arab nations have traditionally been highly hostile towards Israel, which signed peace deals only with two neighbors neighbours so far: Egypt and Jordan.

"For the first time there is an understanding there that the real threat is not Israel, the Jews or Zionism. It is Iran, global jihad, (Lebanese Shi'ite guerrilla group) Hezbollah and al Qaeda", the foreign minister said.

"There are contacts, there are talks, but we are very close to the stage in which within a year or 18 months it will no longer be secret, it will be conducted openly", he added.

He was in touch with "moderate" Arabs. He also said he would have no problem visiting Saudi Arabia or Kuwait.

"I have spent more than a few years of meetings and talks with them. As far as they are concerned, there is only one red rag and that is Iran", he said.

A spokesman for Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry said: "There are no ties or talks with Israel at any level." In Kuwait, Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Khaled al-Jarallah said: "It is not true, we don't have these kind of talks".

"I'm certain that by then we will have a situation in which we have full diplomatic relations with most of the moderate Arab states. And you can count on my word", he said.

Iran denies that it is planning to build nuclear weapons.

"To Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, the cost of open relations with Israel at this time may be higher than the benefit, given the position of the Arab street", said a report in December.

"I think that they too are stewing in their own juice and reaching an awareness that there will be no choice but to move from the secret stage of the dialogue between us to the open stage of the talks", Avigdor Lieberman said.