Saudi Arabia has said it is “absolutely necessary” for Israel to accept a two-state solution alongside Palestine.
The Saudi foreign minister Faisal bin-Farhan made his comments while attending a meeting of Arab and European counterparts in Brussels on Monday.
He told the Joint Arab-Islamic Extraordinary Summit on Developments in the Gaza Strip that he was concerned Israel did not see the security benefits of a two-state solution, which was “in its own interest”.
“It is absolutely necessary that Israel accepts that it cannot exist without the existence of a Palestinian state,” he told reporters.
The minister said: “I firmly believe a two-state solution, that the establishment of a credible Palestinian state serves not just the interests of Palestinians, it delivers their right to self-determination, it is also in the interests of Israel - it delivers the security Israel needs and deserves, and the fact that the current government in Israel doesn’t realise that of course is a matter of extra concern.”
He added: “We hope sincerely that the leaders of Israel will realise that it is in their interest to work with the international community, not just to strengthen the Palestinian Authority but to establish a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders.”
In September of last year, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said his country was moving closer to normalising ties with Israel.
In the weeks before the Hamas attack against Israel on October 7, Israel spoke of diplomatic efforts involving the US to reach a “historic peace agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which could greatly advance an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict”.
