Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud said on Monday that his country will not establish relations with Israel before the establishment of a Palestinian state, stressing that “it is time to end this conflict and to establish a Palestinian state and to achieve lasting and comprehensive peace that preserves security and sovereignty for the peoples of the region.”
Prince Faisal’s remarks came during a press conference he held on the sidelines of the High-Level International Conference on “The Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution,” held at the United Nations headquarters in New York City.He stressed that “for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia normalisation with Israel can only come through the establishment of a Palestinian state.”
“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.”“We renew our full support to the Qatari, Egyptian and US efforts to reactivate the ceasefire, which would include releasing all hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli troops, and ensuring the delivery of humanitarian aid without any obstacles,” Prince Farhan told journalists.
“We categorically reject any attempts from separating Gaza from the rest of the Palestinian territories or occupying Gaza or imposing a siege on Gaza or forcefully displace the Gazans under any justification and any argument,” he added.
He praised US President Trump’s position, noting that the “US is an essential actor, and it is certainly an essential actor in what concerns peace in the Middle East and President Trump has in fact had success already in this regard. He was able to facilitate the first and only cease fire so far in this conflict, and obviously his personal engagement and this role is immensely important.”
