Saudi crown prince says no Israel ties without Palestinian state
Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler said Wednesday that the
kingdom will not establish ties with Israel until a Palestinian state has been
created, in a blow to US efforts to seal a normalisation deal.
"We renew the kingdom's rejection and strong
condemnation of the crimes of the Israeli occupation authority against the
Palestinian people," Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told the opening
session of its advisory Shura Council.
"The kingdom will not cease its tireless efforts to
establish an independent Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital,
and we affirm that the kingdom will not establish diplomatic relations with
Israel without one," he added.
Normalisation deals brokered by then-US president Donald
Trump in 2020 between Israel and Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates had ended
a longstanding Arab consensus that there should be no normalisation without an
independent Palestinian state and thrown the spotlight on their more powerful
neighbour Saudi Arabia.
As recently as earlier this month, US Secretary of State
Antony Blinken had been holding out the prospect of the swift establishment of
ties with the Gulf Arab oil kingpin as a potential dividend for Israel from a
ceasefire and hostage release deal for Gaza.
Blinken had said during a visit to Haiti on September 6 that
he still hoped to seal a normalisation deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia
before President Joe Biden steps down in January.
"I think if we can get a ceasefire in Gaza, there
remains an opportunity through the balance of this administration to move
forward on normalisation," the US top diplomat said.
The United States has readied a security package to offer
Saudi Arabia if it normalises relations with Israel, Blinken said earlier this
year, as it seeks incentives for Israel to support a Palestinian state.
As part of any deal, Riyadh is expected to insist on a path
to statehood for the Palestinians as well as alliance-style security guarantees
from Washington.
"In order to move forward with normalisation, two
things will be required -- calm in Gaza and a credible pathway to a Palestinian
state," Blinken told a meeting of the World Economic Forum in Riyadh.
But the hard-right Israeli government of Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu remains implacably opposed to Palestinian statehood.
And the high civilian death toll wreaked by Israel's war
against Hamas in Gaza and the immense destruction caused to the Palestinian
territory have put immense pressure on the kingdom to hold back from any major
diplomatic opening.
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