Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman affirmed that his Kingdom will not establish diplomatic relations with Israel without the establishment of a Palestinian state. The Crown Prince stated: “The Palestinian cause is at the forefront of your country’s concerns, and we reiterate the Kingdom’s strong rejection and condemnation of the crimes committed by the Israeli occupation authority against the Palestinian people, disregarding international and humanitarian law in yet another bitter chapter of suffering.” He continued: “The Kingdom will not cease its diligent efforts for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital,” emphasizing that the Kingdom will not establish diplomatic relations with Israel without that condition. He made these remarks during a speech marking the opening of the first year of the ninth session of the Shura Council.
Months earlier, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman expressed the belief that normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel was getting “closer and closer.” However, in a marked shift from that earlier tone, he referred to what he called Israel’s “crimes,” reaffirming that Saudi Arabia will not take the step of normalization before the establishment of a Palestinian state. Analysts who spoke to AFP believe that this stricter tone is intended to “pressure for a halt to the war” in Gaza, which has been ongoing for almost a year, and to “prevent its expansion” into a broader regional conflict.
These statements come at a time of escalating regional tensions. In Lebanon, devices used by Hezbollah were bombed in an attack attributed to Israel (which has yet to comment). In addition, a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis in Yemen landed in central Israel. Last September, Saudi Arabia and Israel were on the “threshold” of normalizing relations under U.S. mediation, but the bloody war in Gaza, which erupted on October 7, led Saudi Arabia to suspend the talks, criticizing Israel’s military operations and calling for an end to the war. Experts believe that Mohammed bin Salman is emphasizing this position now because Israel’s war on Gaza has continued for nearly a year without showing any signs of ending.
Since 2016, Saudi Arabia, the largest economy in the Arab world, has been focused on an economic and social reform project aimed at transforming it into a global center for tourism, business, and sports. This explains the Kingdom’s deep concern about the continuation of the war and its impact on massive investment efforts. Months of behind-the-scenes negotiations, mediated by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States, have failed to reach a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, except for a one-week truce in late November. Bin Salman is seeking to increase pressure on Israel and the United States to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, while also aiming to prevent a broader regional war, which could place “the United States and Israel on one side” and Iran and the so-called “Axis of Resistance” on the other.
Saudi Arabia has never recognized Israel and has not joined the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords of 2020, under which the Kingdom’s neighbors, the UAE and Bahrain, normalized relations with Israel. Morocco and Sudan followed suit. Saudi Arabia was on the path to normalization as part of a deal that would have provided Riyadh with U.S. security guarantees and assistance in developing a civilian nuclear program.
About a year ago, in an interview with Fox News, the Saudi Crown Prince said: “We get closer every day” to normalizing relations with Israel, but he also stressed at the time the “importance of the Palestinian cause” to the Kingdom. Meanwhile, the Israeli government, dominated by the far-right, opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly stated that the war in Gaza will not end until its objectives are achieved, which include “the eradication of Hamas” and “the return of northern residents to their homes.”
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