A former top official from Saudi Arabia has said that without any concrete deal about the Palestinian state, there will be no normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia’s Prince Turki Al-Faisal, the former head of the Kingdom’s intelligence services, said this Friday that if there is no concrete deal between Israel and Palestine about the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, there will be no normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Speaking as the special guest at the London-based think tank Chatham House this Friday evening, the former Saudi ambassador to the United States also revealed how enthusiastic the US has been to resume talks of normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
“The US is keen on the resumption of talks between Israel and Saudi Arabia to strengthen regional security and to forge economic ties, but Riyadh’s position is that if there’s a Palestinian state that Israel accepts to come (into) existence, then we can talk about normalization with Israel,” Prince Al-Faisal said.
He also explained how the events on October 7 last year affected the talks and noted that before what happened on that day, negotiations between the two sides were moving on along those lines, and that the Kingdom even invited a Palestinian delegation to come and talk directly to the Americans about what it is that might bring about a Palestinian state.
“I’m not privy to those talks so I don’t know what happened between the Palestinians and the Americans, but the Kingdom’s position has always been we won’t speak for the Palestinians. They have to do it for themselves. Unfortunately, of course, the Oct. 7 (Hamas attack against Israel) put an end to those talks,” said Prince Al-Faisal.
A Palestinian state is a must for the Muslim world, Saudi official said
Prince Turki also touched on how necessary the establishment of a Palestinian state is not only for Israeli ties with Saudi Arabia but also for the rest of the Muslim world.
“A Palestinian state is a primary condition for Saudi Arabia to have normalization with Israel, but … on the Israeli side, the whole government is saying no Palestinian state,” he said, adding that for Saudi Arabia, an independent Palestine “would encapsulate the 1967 borders, including East Jerusalem.”
Asserting that Saudi Arabia has been at “the forefront of condemning the Israeli onslaught on the Palestinians”, Prince Al-Faisal rebuked the United States as well as other Western nations for what he described as their refusal to “apply more pressure on Israel to end the war.”
“I’d like to see more done by the UK,” he said, referring to how the UK had only recently begun to suspend certain arms export licenses to Israel following the election of a new government in July. “I think, for example, the UK … should recognize the state of Palestine. It’s long overdue,” he also noted.
Likewise, Prince Turki noted that Washington could apply direct pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for continuing the war in Gaza for so long, and should stop funding and lobbying by pro-Israeli groups and individuals.
“I think the US has enormous tools to affect Israel which it isn’t using, not just simply denial of supply of weapons and material to the Israelis, while a lot of financial help goes to Israel from the US,” the Saudi prince said.
