Saudi FM: No Israel normalization without ‘irreversible path’ to Palestinian state

Saudi Arabia will not normalize relations with Israel or contribute to Gaza’s reconstruction without a viable path to an independent Palestinian state, according to Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan.

The kingdom and Israel had been in negotiations to normalize relations before the Israel-Hamas war started in October, after Israel normalized relations with several Arab states in the process known as the Abraham Accords. 

Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat made the comments in a CNN interview that aired late Sunday. Israel’s far-right government has repeatedly spoken out against the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

When Prince Faisal was asked whether a “credible and irreversible path to a Palestinian state” would be necessary for the normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, he said, “That’s the only way we’re going to get a benefit. So, yes.”

Israel’s bombardment and invasion of the Gaza Strip following Hamas’ surprise attack on the Jewish state on Oct. 7 has reduced much of the enclave to rubble. Some 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas attack and 200 more were taken hostage. More than 25,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli invasion into Gaza since. 

Asked whether Saudi Arabia, one of the fastest growing economies in the world, would finance Gaza’s reconstruction, the Saudi foreign minister said, “As long as we’re able to find … a pathway that means that we’re not going to be here again in a year or two, then we can talk about anything.” He added, “But if we are just resetting to the status quo before Oct. 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.”

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday, Saudi ambassador to the United States Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud has said that any normalization deal with Israel would be conditioned on a Gaza cease-fire and an “irrevocable” pathway toward a Palestinian state.

Talking about Saudi policy toward the Hamas-Israel conflict, Princess Reema said, “We carry peace, we carry prosperity, we carry safety and we deliver it through the Palestinian statehood.”

These views echo the Biden administration’s, with White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan saying at the forum on Tuesday that Washington’s strategy for a post-war Gaza is to link the normalization with the creation of a political future for the Palestinians.

Much of the fighting in Gaza now is in the south of the enclave in and around the city of Khan Younis, below which Israel believes Hamas Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar, who is seen as the mastermind behind the Oct. 7 attacks, is hiding.