Saudi Arabia and Israel are getting closer to normalizing ties, but the Palestinian issue remains important to ongoing negotiations, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman said Wednesday.
"Every day we get closer," said the crown prince, who is known as MBS, when asked to characterize talks aimed at the two countries opening diplomatic relations.
The interview with the crown prince, widely known as MBS, comes as President Joe Biden’s administration presses ahead with an effort to broker historic ties between the two regional powerhouses, Washington’s top Middle East allies.
The normalization talks are the centerpiece of complex negotiations that also include discussions of U.S. security guarantees and civilian nuclear help that Riyadh has sought, as well as possible Israeli concessions to the Palestinians.
“For us, the Palestinian issue is very important. We need to solve that part,” MBS said when asked what it would take to get a normalization agreement. “And we have good negotiations continue until now.”
“We got to see where we go. We hope that will reach a place, that it will ease the life of the Palestinians, get Israel as a player in the Middle East,” he said, speaking in English.
MBS also voiced concern about the possibility of Iran, a mutual adversary of Saudi Arabia and Israel that the U.S. wants to contain, could obtain a nuclear weapon. Tehran has denied seeking a nuclear bomb.
“That's a bad move,” he said. “If you use it, you got to have a big fight with the rest of the world.”
Asked what would happen if Iran did get a nuclear bomb, he said: “If they get one, we have to get one.”
While U.S. officials insist any breakthrough is far away, they privately tout the potential benefits of a regional mega-deal, including removing a possible flashpoint in the Arab-Israeli conflict, strengthening the bulwark against Iran and countering China’s inroads in the Gulf. Biden would also score a foreign policy win as he seeks re-election in November 2024.
In January, Saudi Arabia obviated ties with Israel without a two-state implementation.
Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, is a close partner of the United States, but it has repeatedly refused to normalize ties with U.S.-ally Israel due to its occupation of Palestinian territories.
The U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords in 2020 saw the kingdom's neighbors – the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain – establish full diplomatic ties with Israel.
Netanyahu has repeatedly expressed his desire to see Saudi Arabia join the list.
