Israel must recognize a Palestinian state at the pre-1967 lines in order to normalize ties with Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that appeared to douse US President Joe Biden’s hope for a trilateral deal between Washington, Riyadh, and Jerusalem this year.
“The Kingdom has communicated its firm position to the US administration that there will no diplomatic relations with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is recognized on the 1967 border with east Jerusalem as its capital,” the Saudi Foreign Ministry said.
It added that “the Kingdom reiterates its call to the permanent members of the UN 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, so that the Palestinian people can obtain their legitimate rights and so that a comprehensive and just peace is achieved for all.”
It issued its statement just one day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Saudi Arabia and met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud in Riyadh on Monday.
It was the first leg of Blinken’s whirlwind Middle East tour, the fifth he has made since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. The visit, which included stops in Egypt and Qatar, is billed as one that would advance a Saudi-Israel normalization deal and an agreement with Hamas for the release of over 130 hostages held in Gaza.
At a press briefing in Doha on Tuesday night, prior to his arrival in Israel on Wednesday, Blinken spoke optimistically about the possibility of a Saudi-Israel normalization deal.
“With regard specifically to normalization, the crown prince reiterated Saudi Arabia’s strong interest in pursuing that,” Blinken said.
“But he also made clear what he had said to me before, which is that in order to do that two things are required: an end to the conflict in Gaza and a clear, credible, time-bound path to the establishment of a Palestinian state.”
In a teleconference with reporters on Tuesday US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said, “we were, before the 7th of October, and are still now having discussions with our counterparts in the region, Israel and Saudi Arabia — obviously, the two key ones — about trying to move forward with a normalization arrangement between Israel and Saudi Arabia.” Kirby explained that the Saudi-Israel normalization push was separate from the diplomacy around the Gaza war, such as the hostage deal and a pause to the war. The track toward a Saudi-Israel deal “is a separate track and not related specifically to trying to get this extended humanitarian pause in place. Both are really important though,” Kirby said.Israel’s willingness to make peace not enough for Saudis
The US had hoped that an Israeli willingness to engage in a peace process toward two-states would be enough to allow the issue to move forward.
Within hours, Saudi Arabia clarified that this was not the case, by releasing a sharp statement in the middle of the night.
It also linked a normalization process to the Gaza war, sparked by the Hamas-led attack against southern Israel on October 7, in which over 1,200 people were killed and another 253 seized as hostages. Out of those, over 130 are still held.
Saudi Arabia said that to achieve a normalization deal, “Israel’s aggression on the Gaza Strip stops and all Israeli occupation forces withdraw from the Gaza Strip.”
Israel has insisted that it will only stop the war once it has destroyed Hamas and that once the conflict is over the IDF must retain security control of the enclave.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government have also been clear about their opposition to a Palestinian state.
PLO Executive Committee Secretary-General Hussein Al-Sheikh, “We thank the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its firm stance and the efforts made to stand with the Palestinian people and their just cause.”
