Saudi Arabia will not normalize its relations with Israel without the establishment of a Palestinian state, the foreign minister of the powerful Gulf monarchy said on Friday, amid appeals from the foot of the Hebrew state.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Thursday discussed the possibility, alluding to Saudi Arabia, of “expanding” the Abraham Accords, which formalized relations between Israel and several Arab countries.
“True normalization and true stability will only come by giving the Palestinians hope and dignity, which requires giving them a state,” said Faisal bin Farhane, the head of Saudi diplomacy, in a video posted on Twitter on Friday.
The world’s largest crude oil exporter and largest Arab economy, the Gulf kingdom is a very close partner of the United States, but has always refused to normalize ties with Israel due to state occupation and colonization. Hebrew from the Palestinian territories.
Israel has occupied the Palestinian territories since 1967 and continues its Jewish settlement policy, denounced by the UN, NGOs and the international community, including the Jewish state’s closest partners.
The White House said Thursday that Jake Sullivan had expressed Washington’s opposition to anything that would call into question “the viability” of a future Palestinian state.
Riyadh did not object to the Abraham Accords signed under the aegis of Washington at the end of 2020 by Israel and several Arab countries, including some in the Gulf close to Saudi Arabia, such as Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
But the kingdom has repeated on several occasions that it makes respect for the rights of the Palestinians a sine qua non condition for signing such an agreement with the Israelis.
Benjamin Netanyahu believes for his part that normalization with Saudi Arabia would facilitate an Israeli-Palestinian agreement, although the good relations with the United Arab Emirates have not opened up the slightest prospect of an evolution of the peace process.