Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has welcomed the declaration by Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman that the kingdom would not normalise relations with Israel before the establishment of a Palestinian state with occupied East Jerusalem as its capital. This amounted to a toughening of the Saudi position, which previously demanded a “pathway” to a Palestinian state in Washington’s grand bargain leading to normalisation with Israel.
Mr Abbas praised Saudi support for the Palestinians’ s right to freedom and independence, which he said contributed to a unified Arab and Muslim stand on Palestinian statehood.
The prince – who is prime minister and de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia – redefined the Saudi commitment during his address to the appointed consultative Shura Council. He said Palestine was at the “forefront of the kingdom’s concerns”, condemned Israel’s “crimes against the Palestinian people” and violations of human rights law and commended countries that have recognised the Palestinian state, Saudi-owned London Arabic daily Asharq al-Awsat reported.
His assurance was reinforced by the backing of the Saudi-led 57-member Organisation of Islamic Co-operation for Wednesday’s UN General Assembly resolution calling for Israel to end within a year its 57-year occupation of Palestinian territory by implementing last month’s advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice.
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Analysts argue that if Riyadh were to normalise with Israel while Palestine remains occupied, the House of Saud could lose its sanctified status as “Guardian of the Two Holy Cities”, Mecca and Medina. Saudi Arabia also depends on annual pilgrimage revenues of $12 billion (€10.7 billion).
Last month, the US news site Politico reported the crown prince told visiting US members of Congress that he would be risking his life by normalising relations with Israel. He gave the example of the assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat following his 1979 peace treaty with Israel.
Despite the crown prince’s refusal to budge on normalisation, the US state department played down his remarks and said Riyadh had consistently insisted on a Gaza ceasefire and a Palestinian state. This has left US president Joe Biden in the doldrums. He had hoped Saudi normalisation would be a key foreign policy accomplishment in his legacy. Since Biden leaves office in January, state department spokesman Matthew Miller stated, “Every day that goes by, it gets tougher to accomplish anything.”
Secretary of state Antony Blinken said earlier this month that he thought Saudi-Israeli normalisation was still possible during this administration. However, due to Israel’s Gaza war, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco have tried to play down their 2020 normalisation deals with Israel, while the two Arab peace treaties with Israel concluded by Egypt and Jordan have failed to bring warm relations and resulted, because of the Gaza war, in popular demands for abrogation. The Washington-based Arab Centre’s 2024 opinion poll found that 89 per cent of Arabs reject recognition of Israel.
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