Riyadh: Saudi Arabia has told Washington it will not establish ties with Israel until an independent Palestinian state “is recognised”, the kingdom’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
“The kingdom conveyed to the U. S. leadership its corporate position that there will be no diplomatic relations with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is identified on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital,” read the statement released by the official Saudi Press Agency.
Israel’s “aggression” in Gaza must also be prevented and all Israeli forces must withdraw from the besieged territory, he said.
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Wednesday’s comments followed comments by White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirthrough, who told reporters on Tuesday that talks on normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel were “ongoing” and that Washington had “gained positive feedback from both sides that indicated they were willing to continue to have those discussions. “. “
During a crisis tour of the region, U. S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Saudi Arabia this week before making stops in Egypt, Qatar and Israel, where he is pushing for a truce in the war between Israel and Hamas.
On Tuesday, Blinken told reporters in Doha that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had “reiterated Saudi Arabia’s voluntary interest in continuing” the normalization of its assembly in Riyadh.
“But he also made clear what he had said to me before, which is that in order to do that, two things will be required – an end to the conflict in Gaza, and a clear, credible timebound path to the establishment of a Palestinian state,” Blinken said.
Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Washington, Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud, told the World Economic Forum last month that normalization would not have an “irrevocable” path to the creation of a Palestinian state.
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