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05-02-2025
WASHINGTON: Saudi Arabia reiterates its stance against normalizing relations with Israel before a two-state solution has been reached, after US President Donald Trump said earlier that Riyadh has not made the establishment of a Palestinian state a condition for a peace deal with Israel.
A statement from Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry says that the kingdom’s stance in favor of a Palestinian state on the pre-1967 lines with East Jerusalem as its capital is “firm and unwavering.”
It notes that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman stated as much in a speech last September, when he said Riyadh would not establish ties with Israel without this main condition met.
The Saudi statement carefully doesn’t mention Trump by name, as Riyadh and other countries around the world try to avoid crossing the US president at the start of his second term.
However, Riyadh does stress that it had already conveyed its position against normalizing ties with Israel before a Palestinian state is established “to the previous US administration and the current administration.”
Non-Saudi officials and analysts alike, though, have long dismissed such statements from Riyadh, insisting that bin Salman is far more flexible on the issue in private and is only seeking the establishment of a “pathway” to Palestinian statehood before normalizing ties with Israel.
However, those same officials and analysts acknowledge that Riyadh has been seeking a much more irreversible since the Gaza war, which has catapulted the Palestinian issue to the top of the international agenda.
The Saudi foreign ministry statement said the “Kingdom has communicated its firm position to the US administration that there will be no diplomatic relations with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is recognized on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital”.
It reiterated “its call to the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council that have not yet recognized the Palestinian state, to expedite the recognition of the Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital”.
The Gaza war has put renewed focus on the idea of the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, even though negotiations have been moribund for years.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will not compromise on full Israeli security west of the Jordan River and that this stands contrary to a Palestinian state.
Countries including the United States and Britain have reiterated their support for the two-state solution.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said last week there would be a time when Britain would look to recognize a Palestinian state, including at the United Nations.
Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “start talking about the things a Palestinian state can be rather than the things it can’t be”, reiterating British support for a two-state solution.
The Gaza war has put renewed focus on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, still seen by many countries including the United States as the path to peace even though the negotiating process has been moribund for years.
In an interview with Lebanese broadcaster aired on Friday, Cameron said part of British policy is to say there will be a time when Britain would look to recognize a Palestinian state, including at the United Nations. (Int’l News Desk)
