Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said there can be no normalisation of ties with Israel without resolving the Palestinian issue.
Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud told CNN‘s Fareed Zakaria: “That’s the only way we’re going to get the benefit. So, yes, because we need stability and only stability will come through resolving the Palestinian issue.“
De-escalation of the conflict in Gaza and halting civilian deaths is a key focus of Saudi Arabia, the minister said.
“What we are seeing is the Israelis are crushing Gaza, the civilian population of Gaza,” he said. “This is completely unnecessary, completely unacceptable and has to stop.”
The local health ministry in Gaza says more than 25,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 62,000 wounded in Israel’s assault on the region since an Oct 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian group.
Securing a normalisation deal with Saudi Arabia would be the grand prize for Israel after it established diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco, and could transform the geopolitics of the Middle East.
The kingdom, the most powerful country in the Arab world and home to the most sacred sites in Islam wields considerable religious clout across the globe.
