Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan announced on Tuesday during a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that the Kingdom could recognize Israel if a comprehensive agreement is reached that includes statehood for the Palestinians.
Prince Faisal stated that achieving regional peace through the establishment of a Palestinian state was something KSA “has been working on with the US administration, and it is more relevant in the context of Gaza.”
“There is a pathway towards a much better future for the region, for the Palestinians, and for Israel, that is peace,” said Prince Faisal, “and we are fully committed to that.”
Having established diplomatic connections with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco, Israel’s crowning achievement would be reaching a normalization agreement with Saudi Arabia, which would change the face of Middle Eastern geopolitics.
However, when Israel launched its war on Gaza in October following Hamas’ October 7 attack on southern Israel killing 1,200 Israelis, Saudi Arabia put on ice US-backed plans for the kingdom to normalize relations with the Jewish state.
Israel’s hard-right government has downplayed the possibility of making big concessions to the Palestinians as part of any future normalization agreement with Saudi Arabia.
Since the war began, 24,280 Palestinians have been killed as a result of Israel’s missile strikes, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, a large percentage of them women, children, and babies.