Saudi Arabia gives condition for normalization of ties with Israel
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - JULY 20: Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud talks with South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin during their meeting at the foreign ministry on July 20, 2022 in Seoul, South Korea. Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud is in South Korea to discuss economic exchanges and to strengthen bilateral relationships. (Photo by Jung Yeon-Je - Pool/Getty Images)
Saudi Arabia has pledged its backing for Palestine while stressing that it will not normalize relations with Israel until the Palestinian issue is resolved, Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud told US news outlet CNN in an interview on Sunday.
Prince Faisal told CNN: “That’s the only way we’re going to get the benefit,” when asked whether there could be no normal ties without a path to a credible and irreversible Palestinian state.
“So, yes, because we need stability, and stability will only come through resolving the Palestinian issue.”
Prince Faisal stressed the necessity of a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip while stating at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday that Israel cannot enjoy peace without the creation of a Palestinian state.
Before Israel launched its devastating war on Gaza on October 7 of last year, Saudi Arabia was involved in US-mediated talks for possible normalization of relations with Israel. However, experts think that the fighting caused the two parties to postpone their negotiations.
At least 25,105 Palestinians were killed and 62,681 were injured as Israel began a violent offensive on the Gaza Strip in response to a cross-border incursion by the Palestinian group Hamas on October 7. In the Hamas onslaught, it is estimated that over 1,200 Israelis lost their lives.
According to the UN, 85% of Gaza’s population is internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed.
