The Kaaba in Mecca. Photo: Bluemangoa2z via Wikimedia Commons.

For the ninth consecutive year, Saudi Arabia has announced that it will host a thousand family members of Palestinian “martyrs” for Hajj.

King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud ordered the hosting on Monday.

The Saudi minister of Islamic affairs — Sheikh Saleh bin Abdulaziz bin Mohammed Al-Sheikh — said that the offer comes from the king, because the Muslim and Arab brotherhood support “Palestine,” and its people.

Al-Sheikh stressed that the Palestinian people deserve respect and appreciation due to their great sacrifices to preserve Jerusalem and the land of Palestine, which is an “Arab Islamic land.”

The minister pointed out that the kingdom sought, in all circumstances, to obtain the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and to help them achieve their hopes and aspirations, and to harness their potential to reach those goals.

These statements make the much-heralded, Saudi-backed “Arab Peace Plan” look more like a step toward the destruction of Israel, rather than a permanent peace. After all, how can the Saudis support peace if all of Israel is considered to be forever an Arab Islamic land?

This also makes it look like — while Saudi Arabia has been leaning toward declaring Hamas a terror group — the kingdom doesn’t consider all Palestinian terrorists to be terrorists, but only those associated with either Iran or the Muslim Brotherhood.

Fatah terrorists are heroes.