Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said on Tuesday that his country could recognize Israel if a comprehensive deal that includes Palestinian statehood is reached, which sounds like an ambitious idea as the war between Israel and Hamas shows no signs of abating, according to Reuters.
”We agree that regional peace includes peace for Israel, but this can only happen through peace for the Palestinians through a Palestinian state,” said Prince Faisal bin Farhan on a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Asked if Saudi Arabia would then recognize Israel as part of a broader political agreement, he said: “Certainly.”
Prince Faisal said that securing regional peace through the creation of a Palestinian state “is something we have really worked on with the United States (U.S.) administration, and even more importantly in the context of Gaza,” it was reported.
Securing a normalization deal with Saudi Arabia would be a major prize for Israel after establishing diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco, and could transform Middle East geopolitics.
The Sunni Muslim kingdom, the most powerful country in the Arab world and home to Islam’s holiest sites, wields considerable religious power around the world.
After the outbreak of war last October between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas that governs Gaza, Saudi Arabia put on hold U.S.-backed plans for the kingdom to normalize ties with Israel, two sources familiar with Riyadh’s thinking said.
Two sources told Reuters there would be some delay in U.S.-backed talks on normalizing Saudi-Israeli ties, seen as a key step for the kingdom to secure what it sees as the real prize in exchange for a defense pact with the U.S.
