Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday night that the kingdom has told the US its position stands that there will be no diplomatic relations with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is recognized on the pre-1967 borders and Israeli "aggression" on the Gaza Strip stops, Reuters reported. The Saudi statement came after White House National Security spokesperson John Kirby said that the Biden administration has received positive feedback that Saudi Arabia and Israel are willing to continue to have normalization discussions. The ministry made clear that the kingdom issued the statement to affirm its steadfast position to Washington on the Palestinian Arab issue in the light of the comments attributed to Kirby. Saudi officials have long insisted that statehood for the Palestinian Arabs must be part of any process which concludes in the kingdom recognizing Israel and normalizing ties. However, a report last week indicated that Saudi Arabia would be willing to accept a political commitment from Israel to create a Palestinian state, rather than anything more binding, in a bid to get a defense pact with Washington approved before the US presidential election. Israel and Saudi Arabia appeared to be on track towards normalization before Hamas’ October 7 attack against Israel and the war in Gaza which followed. Related articles: Saudi official condemns Trump’s Gaza plan 'No normalization with Israel without a Palestinian state' 'Sovereignty is part of the absolute victory!' 'There will be no normalization without a Palestinian state' Shortly after the start of the war in Gaza, sources told Reuters that Saudi Arabia is putting the US-backed plans to normalize ties with Israel on ice. Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, later said that he believes talks on normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia will resume immediately after the conclusion of the war in Gaza.
