Jerusalem; Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat said the kingdom will not normalise relations with Israel or contribute to Gaza’s reconstruction without a credible path to a Palestinian state a nonstarter for Israel’s government.
Prince Faisal bin Farhan’s remarks in an interview with CNN broadcast late Sunday were some of the most direct yet from Saudi officials.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who faces mounting domestic pressure over the plight of Israeli hostages, including an angry protest inside a parliamentary committee meeting on Monday has rejected Palestinian statehood and described plans for open-ended military control over Gaza.
The dispute over Gaza’s future as the war rages with no end in sight pits Israel against its top ally, the United States, as well as much of the international
community, and poses a major obstacle to any plans for postwar governance or reconstruction of the impoverished coastal enclave that is home to 2.3 million Palestinians.
Before the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the war, the US had been trying to broker a landmark agreement in which Saudi Arabia would normalise relations with Israel in exchange for US security guarantees, aid in establishing a civilian nuclear programme and progress toward resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In September, Netanyahu had said Israel was on “the cusp” of such a deal.
In the interview with “CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS”, the host asked: “Are you saying unequivocally that if there is not a credible
and irreversible path to a Palestinian state, there will not be normalisation of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel?”
“That’s the only way we’re going to get a benefit,” Prince Faisal replied. “So, yes.”
Earlier in the interview, when asked if oil-rich Saudi Arabia would finance reconstruction in Gaza where Israel’s offensive has caused unprecedented destruction Prince Faisal gave a similar answer.
“As long as we’re able to find a pathway to a solution ... then we can talk about anything,” he said. “But if we are just resetting to the status quo before October 7, in a way that sets us up for another
round of this, as we have seen in the past, we’re not interested in that conversation.”