Just days after France announced plans to recognize Palestinian statehood in September, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan reinforced his kingdom’s position that Israeli normalization requires a Palestinian state.
“For the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, normalization with Israel can only come through the establishment of a Palestinian state,” Bin Farhan said Monday at a UN press conference alongside French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot.
“That position remains the same, and it is based on a strong conviction that only through the establishment of a Palestinian state and only through addressing the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination can we have sustainable peace and real integration in the region.”
Trump has been actively pursuing Saudi Arabia’s entry into the Abraham Accords, the normalization agreements his first administration brokered between several Arab states and Israel. However, Bin Farhan pointed to the dire conditions in Gaza as a roadblock in normalization talks.
“There is no credibility to have a conversation about normalization with constant death and suffering and destruction in Gaza,” he said.
International pressure has been mounting on Western governments to push Israel toward addressing the hunger crisis in Gaza. Standing alongside UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer at his golf course in Turnberry, Scotland on Monday, US President Trump announced that he would work on a new food aid initiative for Gaza alongside other EU governments, but blamed the worsening famine in the besieged enclave on Hamas.
“We’ve given a lot of money to Gaza for food and everything else. A lot of that money is stolen by Hamas, and a lot of the food is stolen,” Trump noted. However, Starmer leveled the blame on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying, “I think people in Britain are revolted at seeing what they are seeing on their screens.”
Although Starmer stopped short of announcing immediate recognition during his meeting with Trump, pressure has been building to recognize a Palestinian state after France’s shock announcement on Saturday. Back home, 221 MPs from nine parties have signed a letter calling for British recognition of Palestine, while Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner is reportedly leading a cabinet rebellion over Starmer’s “weak” Gaza policy.
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