Saudi Arabia pours cold water on normalisation with Israel

Saudi Arabia will not normalise ties with Israel until a Palestinian state has been established, the Kingdom’s embassy in Washington said. 

Saudi embassy spokesman Fahad Nazer told Arab News that the Riyadh’s position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict “has been clear and has been consistent for many years.”

“In fact, it was the late King Abdullah, who, way back in 2002, introduced what is now known as the Arab Peace Initiative at the Arab League Summit in Beirut in that year. And the proposal, the initiative, does offer Israel normalisation with all members of the Arab states in return for a just and comprehensive peace with the Palestinians based on a two-state solution,” he said.

Nazer stressed that the “offer really still remains on the table,” but that the issue of Palestinian rights must be solved before normalisation with Israel can move forward.

His comment comes after U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, visited Riyadh last week, with the intention of making progress in normalising ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

Ahead of his trip, Blinken stressed that Washington has a “real national security interest” in promoting normalisation between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

“We believe that we can and indeed we must play an integral role in advancing it. Now, we have no illusions that this can be done quickly or easily. But we remain committed to working toward this outcome, including on the trip I’m about to take this week to Jeddah and Riyadh for engagements with our Saudi and Gulf counterparts,” Blinken said at the AIPAC conference in Washington last week.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared it a top priority for his government to establish ties with Saudi Arabia, which would further integrate Israel into the Arab world.

But several issues have poured cold water on the immediate prospects of a deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel, such as intense clashes on the Al-Aqsa compound between Israeli Police and Palestinians, as well as the Netanyahu government’s push to significantly expand settlements in the West Bank.

Saudi embassy spokesman Fahad Nazer’s comments also stands in stark contrast to Netanyahu, who believes that the lack of progress in finding a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict isn’t an obstacle for peace and normalisation with other Arab nations.