After a week-long silence over the UAE-Israel deal, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal said that the Kingdom was determined to remain committed about the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative with Israel and to not normalizing ties with Israel until Israel signs the internationally-recognised peace accord with the Palestinians.
On Wednesday, during a visit to Berlin, Prince Faisal told reporters that “Peace must be achieved with the Palestinians”.
Prince Faisal’s statements ruled out talks about Saudi following UAE’s footsteps until the Palestinian issue is resolved on the basis of international accords.
Reiterating criticism of Israel, Price Faisal stated Israel’s annexation policies as “unilateral” and said that Israel constructing settlements in the ‘occupied’ West Bank was “illegitimate” and “detrimental” to a two-state solution.
However, Prince Faisal did say that the UAE-Israel deal “could be viewed as positive” as these are “efforts that result in holding back the threat of annexation”.
On Wednesday, at a White House news conference, US President Donald Trump, who helped broker the UAE-Israel deal, stated that he expected Saudi to join the deal.
It is important to mention that the kingdom of Saudi Arabia does not recognise Israel. Saudi had drawn up the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative with Israel in which the Arab countries offered to normalise ties with Israel conditioned on if Israel withdrew from the territory captured in 1967 and if Israel agreed to a statehood deal with the Palestinians.