'No Diplomatic Relations With Israel Unless...': Saudi Arabia Asserts Firm Stance on Palestine to US

Saudi Arabia has told the United States it will not establish ties with Israel until an independent Palestinian state “is recognised”, the Gulf kingdom’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

“The Kingdom has communicated its firm position to the U.S. administration that there will be no diplomatic stations with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is recognized on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, and that the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip stops and all Israeli occupation forces withdraw from the Gaza Strip,” the statement read.

‘Palestinian State’

Israeli “aggression” in Gaza must also stop and all Israeli forces must withdraw from the besieged territory, the statement said.” The Kingdom reiterates its call to the permanent members of the UN Security Council that have not yet recognised the Palestinian state, to expedite the recognition of the Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, so that the Palestinian people can obtain their legitimate rights and so that a comprehensive and just peace is achieved for all,” it added.

Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s holiest sites, has never recognised Israel and did not join the 2020 US-brokered Abraham Accords that saw its Gulf neighbours Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, as well as Morocco, establish formal ties with Israel. Wednesday’s statement came in response to comments by White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, who told reporters on Tuesday that talks on Saudi-Israeli normalisation were “ongoing” and that Washington had “received positive feedback from both sides that they’re willing to continue to have those discussions”.

Blinken’s Crisis Tour

On a crisis tour of the region, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Saudi Arabia this week before stops in Egypt, Qatar and then Israel, where he is pressing for a truce deal in the Israel-Hamas war. On Tuesday, Blinken told reporters in Doha that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had “reiterated Saudi Arabia’s strong interest in pursuing” normalisation during their meeting in Riyadh.

“But he also made clear what he had said to me before, which is that in order to do that, two things will be required — an end to the conflict in Gaza, and a clear, credible timebound path to the establishment of a Palestinian state,” Blinken said. US President Joe Biden’s administration has pushed hard for Saudi Arabia to recognise Israel.

‘Normalisation Talks’

The idea of Israel and Saudi Arabia formally cementing ties has been under discussion since the Saudis gave their quiet assent to Gulf neighbours United Arab Emirates and Bahrain establishing ties with Israel in 2020. Before the Israel-Hamas war broke out in October, Riyadh laid out conditions including security guarantees from Washington and help developing a civilian nuclear programme. Any momentum stalled soon after Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7 that killed about 1,160 people.

Promising to eliminate Hamas, Israel has launched air strikes and a land offensive that have killed at least 27,585 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Last month, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Washington, Princess Reema bint Bandar al-Saud, told the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos that normalisation would be impossible without an “irrevocable” pathway towards the creation of a Palestinian state.

(With agency inputs)