King Salman reiterates Palestinians have right to independent state day after his son and heir to the throne made waves by accepting Israel’s right to exist
Saudi King Salman reaffirmed Riyadh’s support for a future Palestinian state less than a day after his son and heir to the throne made waves by de facto recognizing Israel’s right to exist. In a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump, the Saudi leader reiterated his kingdom’s “steadfast position towards the Palestinian issue and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.”
The comment followed the publication by The Atlantic of an interview with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in which he asserted that both “the Palestinians and the Israelis have the right to have their own land…. We [Saudi Arabia] don’t have any objection against any other people,” he expounded, “[rather] we have religious concerns about the fate of the holy mosque in Jerusalem and about the rights of the Palestinian people. This is what we have.”
Bin Salman went so far as to point out that the Islamic Prophet Mohammed at one point in his life was married to a Jewish woman.
While the crown prince further noted that Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries share multiple interests with Israel, he stressed that the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between Riyadh and Jerusalem is contingent on the latter forging a peace agreement with the Palestinians. In this respect, the Saudi position, outlined in the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, calls for the creation of a Palestinian state on all of the lands captured by Israel in the 1967 war with east Jerusalem as its capital. It also stipulates a “just solution” to the Palestinian refugee issue, a major sticking point for Israel which opposes the claim that some 5 million descendants of Palestinians displaced during the 1948 war are entitled to return to their former homes.
The widespread interest in bin Salman’s assertions comes against the backdrop of a growing rapprochement—albeit one taking place mainly behind-the-scenes—between Saudi Arabia and Israel, fueled primarily by mutual concerns over Shiite Iran’s regional adventurism and potential nuclearization.
Nevertheless, according to Saudi political analyst Suleiman Al-Oqeily, Riyadh will not abandon the Palestinians in favor of an alliance with Israel geared towards curbing Tehran’s ambitions. As proof, he highlighted bin Salman’s “clear adherence to the longstanding peace plan adopted by the Arab League and his public declaration that there will be no open ties with Israel until there is a deal with the Palestinians.”
This Saudi commitment is so strong, Al-Oqeily expounded, that the royals are willing to overlook verbal assaults on the kingdom by Palestinian leaders as well as Hamas’ ties to Iran. “Those who are harming the Palestinian cause are the Palestinians themselves—by attacking Saudi Arabia and by supporting its enemies, such as [Yassir Arafat’s backing of former Iraqi dictator] Saddam Hussein [during the First Gulf War] and presently [with Hamas’ close ties to Iranian Supreme Leader] Ayatollah Khamenei.”
By contrast, Palestinian political analyst Hanna Issa believes that the Palestinian issue has indeed taken a back seat to Riyadh’s goal of challenging Tehran’s drive to achieve regional hegemony. As a result, “there is no longer a united approach among the Arab nations to find a permanent solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict,” he elaborated to The Media Line.
Issa stressed, however, that the Palestinians are likewise at fault, as they too are divided politically between the Palestinian Authority-governed West Bank and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. “Palestinians must reunite before blaming anyone for anything.”
For his part, Lebanese political analyst Qasem Qaseer contended that the incessant speculation about Saudi-Israeli relations is much ado about nothing, “as any attempt to weaken the Palestinian cause will not succeed because it remains the top priority to most Arabs in the Middle East. All the statements and positions will not change things on the ground,” he continued, “since what matters is the Palestinian resistance, like that which took place [during the violent demonstrations] last Friday in Gaza.”
While Qaseer acknowledged that Saudi Arabia is, in fact, recruiting other countries to side with it against Iran, he poured cold water on the argument that this could in any way impact the peace process. “It is irrelevant as the two sides are still too far apart. What the Israelis are proposing is less than the minimum the Palestinians can accept, especially as regards the return of refugees and the status of Jerusalem.”
Nevertheless, relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel do appear to be strengthening. Last month, for example, the kingdom agreed for the first time to open its airspace to a thrice-weekly commercial flights from New Delhi to Tel Aviv. Moreover, various senior Israeli officials have publicly stated that ties are improving, as evidenced by a series of interviews in the Saudi-owned Elaph newspaper, including one by army Chief-of-Staff Gen. Gadi Eisenkot who expressed a willingness to share intelligence with Riyadh before naming Iran as the greatest threat to the region.