The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the United States on Wednesday that there will be no diplomatic relations with Israel until an independent Palestinian state is established along the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital and Israeli aggression in Gaza is stopped.
According to Reuters, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued this statement in response to a comment by U.S. National Security Advisor John Kirby, who said that the Biden administration is willing to continue dialogue to normalize relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry said that we have issued this statement to confirm our firm position to Washington on the Palestinian issue in the light of the comments attributed to John Kirby.
According to Reuters, discussions on formalizing relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia began after Riyadh’s Gulf neighbors, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, established ties with Israel in 2020.
Sources told Reuters in October 2023 that Saudi Arabia has so far rejected US plans to normalize relations with Israel.
Earlier, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan in the capital Riyadh on Monday during his visit to the Middle East in the context of the ongoing Israeli aggression in Gaza.
The US secretary of state’s trip to the Middle East comes at a time when Palestinians hope a ceasefire will be reached ahead of an Israeli assault on the Gaza border town of Rafah, where half of Gaza’s population has taken refuge. .
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that Antony Blinken and the Saudi crown prince discussed regional coordination to achieve “a lasting end” to the conflict.
The statement added that the US Secretary of State emphasized with the Saudi leadership the importance of meeting humanitarian needs in Gaza and preventing further escalation of the conflict.
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