There can be no normalization of ties with Israel without resolving the Palestinian issue, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan has said.
In an interview with US news media outlet CNN, Prince Faisal said that Saudi Arabia will not normalize relations with Israel unless the Palestinian issue is resolved.
Responding to a question about whether there could be no normal ties without a path to a credible and irreversible Palestinian state, Prince Faisal said: “That’s the only way we’re going to get the benefit.”
“So, yes, because we need stability, and stability will only come through resolving the Palestinian issue.”
“We are fully ready, not just as Saudi Arabia, but as Arab countries, to engage in that conversation. I would hope that the Israelis would be as well, but it’s up to them to make that decision,” Prince Faisal said.
These remarks were part of an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) held last week in Davos, Switzerland, and aired Sunday on CNN
Prince Faisal told the Davos participants that Israel cannot enjoy peace without the establishment of a Palestinian state, emphasizing the need for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. “What we are seeing is the Israelis are crushing Gaza, the civilian population of Gaza,” he said. “This is completely unnecessary, completely unacceptable and has to stop.”
The only way for the region to see true peace and real integration that delivers economic and social benefits to the Middle East is “through peace, through a credible, irreversible process to a Palestinian state.”
Saudi-Israel normalization talks
Prior to Israel’s intense bombing and relentless war on Gaza that began on October 7 last year, Saudi Arabia was engaged in negotiations for a potential normalization of relations with Israel, mediated by the United States. Howevee, the war postponed talks planned between the two Middle Eastern countries, analysts said.
Israeli media has reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a proposal from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that would have seen Saudi Arabia normalize relations with Israel in exchange for agreeing to provide the Palestinians with a pathway toward statehood.
Blinken recently visited Middle East, where he made efforts to try to get Israel and Arab leaders to agree on a path forward for Gaza once the war with Hamas ends.
Following his meetings, Blinken shared with Netanyahu the commitments from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and four other Arab leaders to help fund the reconstruction of Gaza after the war, NBC reported. However, that commitment and normalization of ties with Israel was conditioned on Israeli steps toward Palestinian sovereignty.
No talks of normalizing ties until ceasefire in Gaza
Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the US said the Kingdom was unable to continue talks about a deal to recognize Israel until there is a ceasefire in Gaza.
“I think the most important thing to realize is the [Kingdom] has not put normalization at the heart of its policy. It’s put peace and prosperity at the heart of its policy,” Princess Reema bint Bandar told a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “The [Kingdom] has been quite clear. While there is violence on the ground and the killing persists, we cannot talk about the next day.”
Saudi Arabia does not recognize Israel. The country also did not join the 2020 US-brokered Abraham Accords that saw its Gulf neighbors Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates as well as Morocco establish formal ties with Israel. United States government has been pushing Saudi Arabia to take the same step.
Israel’s military operations in Gaza
Israel launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip following the October 7 cross-border incursion by the Palestinian militant group Hamas which resulted in the death of about 1,200 Israeli citizens.
Since that day, more than 25,000 Palestinians – most of them women and children – have been killed and more than 62,000 wounded in Israel’s assault, according to the Gaza health ministry.
The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to UN.
