Establishing a Palestinian state ‘is a firm, unwavering position’, Saudi’s Foreign Ministry says, rejecting Trump’s ethnic-cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza.
Saudi Arabia reacted swiftly and sternly to US President Donald Trump’s pledge to “take over” the Gaza Strip, reiterating no normalisation deal with Israel will occur until Palestinians receive their own independent state.
“The establishment of the Palestinian state is a firm, unwavering position,” the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a lengthy statement on X on Wednesday.
“His Highness [Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman] has affirmed this position in a clear and explicit manner that does not allow for any interpretation under any circumstances.
“His Highness stressed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will not stop its tireless work towards the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, and the Kingdom will not establish diplomatic relations with Israel without that.”
Trump said on Tuesday the US would take over the war-ravaged enclave after Palestinians are resettled elsewhere and develop it economically into the “Riviera of the Middle East“. He was speaking at a joint news conference with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump’s move contradicts numerous Saudi Arabian statements over the years stressing the kingdom’s commitment to the Arab Peace Initiative, which proposes diplomatic recognition of Israel on the condition a Palestinian state be established.
‘Too early to talk about this’
Other Arab nations reacted uneasily to Trump’s controversial pronouncements.
Jordan’s royal court said in a statement: “His Majesty King Abdullah II stresses the need to put a stop to [Israeli] settlement expansion, expressing rejection of any attempts to annex land and displace the Palestinians.”
A Qatari official said it’s far too soon to discuss who should control Gaza with a fragile ceasefire between Hamas and Israel still in its preliminary stages.
“We know there is a lot of trauma with the Palestinian side when it comes to displacement. However, again, it’s too early to talk about this, because we don’t know how this war will end,” Majed al-Ansari said.
Qatar is a key mediator in the shaky Gaza truce, which is supposed to enter its second phase soon. Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani will meet Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, in Florida on Thursday to discuss the next steps forward.
A longstanding taboo
A smiling Netanyahu said while taking questions at the joint news conference on Tuesday that “normalisation with Saudi would come soon and would shock people”.
However, the Saudi Foreign Ministry statement demanding a free Palestine before any such deal was unambiguous.
“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia emphasises this unwavering position is non-negotiable and not subject to compromises. Achieving lasting and just peace is impossible without the Palestinian people obtaining their legitimate rights,” it said.
The United States led months of diplomacy to get Saudi Arabia – one of the most powerful and influential Arab states – to normalise ties with Israel and recognise the country.
But the Gaza war, which began in October 2023, led Riyadh to shelve the effort in the face of deep Arab anger over Israel’s relentless attacks and civilian carnage.
Trump would like Saudi Arabia follow in the footsteps of countries such as the United Arab Emirates, a Middle East trade and business hub, and Bahrain, which signed the so-called Abraham Accords in 2020 and normalised ties with Israel.
In doing so, they became the first Arab states in a quarter-century to break a longstanding taboo.
Establishing ties with Saudi Arabia would be a grand prize for Israel because the kingdom has vast influence in the Middle East and the wider Muslim world, and is the world’s biggest oil exporter.
‘Saudi Arabia has a key role to play’
Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara said the key nation regarding the fate of Palestine is without doubt Saudi Arabia.
“There is no country that will have greater say in what goes on in Israel and Palestine moving forward than Saudi Arabia. And there is no country that Israel wants to normalise relations with more than Saudi Arabia,” he said.
One Israeli analyst questioned if words are as strong as deeds when it comes to Saudi Arabia’s commitment to Palestinian sovereignty.
“The key question is whether Saudi Arabia will condition its deal with the US and normalisation with Israel to abandoning this plan, not just saying they support Palestinians’ right to self-determination,” Menachem Klein, professor of political science at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, told Al Jazeera.
Bishara also noted Trump’s leadership style is that of a real estate tycoon, and his Gaza comments may be the opening salvo in a negotiation process, rather than a new policy to expel the Palestinian population from their war-battered territory.
“The calculus would be, ‘OK, you don’t want me to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians, you don’t want me to send American forces to kick them out and take over that piece of land? OK, I won’t do these things, but what are you going to give me in return?’” he said.
“I think you’ll see in the coming weeks – when Trump starts climbing down the tree, when things sober up – he’ll tell the Saudis ‘you need to come forward and stop making conditions about the Palestinian state’,” added Bishara.
“Saudi Arabia has a key role to play, Trump has his eyes on it. But for the time being, Saudi Arabia is holding tight.”
