UPDATE - Saudi Arabia says no normalization with Israel without establishing Palestinian state

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS, ADDS BACKGROUND

By Mohammad Sio

ISTANBUL (AA) - Saudi Arabia will not normalize relations with Israel unless a Palestinian state is established and the war in Gaza ends, the kingdom’s foreign minister said Monday, signaling Riyadh’s clearest stance yet linking recognition to progress on a two-state solution.

Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan made the remarks at a news briefing with his French counterpart Jean-Noel Barrot in New York, following a high-level international conference on implementing the two-state solution, co-hosted by Saudi Arabia and France.

“For the kingdom, recognition is very much tied to the establishment of the Palestinian state,” Prince Faisal said when asked whether Saudi Arabia could relaunch the Abraham Accords recognition for Palestine as a prerequisite for normalizing relations with Israel. In 2020, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco signed US-sponsored agreements to normalize relations with Israel.

“We certainly hope that the clear consensus shown today – which will be shown tomorrow as well – and the clear momentum towards establishing that Palestinian state can open the conversation about normalization,” he added.

Faisal emphasized that normalization with Israel cannot be discussed while Israel’s genocide continues in Gaza.

Talks “can only open first if the conflict in Gaza ends and if the suffering of the people of Gaza is alleviated,” he said. “Because there's no reason, even, or no credibility, to have a conversation about normalization with constant death and suffering and destruction in Gaza.”

“And then we have to talk about the establishment of the Palestinian state. And once that is achieved, then obviously we can talk about normalization,” he added.

Earlier, Prince Faisal said during the opening statements of the conference that the kingdom welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent pledge to recognize a Palestinian state officially.

“This step reflects a serious international move toward realizing the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people,” he said.

Macron has said that Paris would officially recognize a Palestinian state during the UN General Assembly in September.

So far, 149 of the UN’s 193 member states have recognized Palestine – a number that has steadily risen since Israel began its war on Gaza in October 2023.

The two-day conference, co-hosted by France and Saudi Arabia, focuses on reviving peace talks and advancing the implementation of a two-state solution.

Israel has killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, in Gaza since October 2023. The relentless bombardment has destroyed the enclave and led to food shortages.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.