Saudi Arabia, in swift response to Trump, says no ties with Israel without Palestinian state

By Yomna Ehab and Enas Alashray

CAIRO (Reuters) -Saudi Arabia said it would not establish ties with Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state, contradicting President Donald Trump’s claim that Riyadh was not demanding a Palestinian homeland when he said the U.S. wants to take over the Gaza Strip.

In a shocking announcement, Trump said on Tuesday the United States would take over the war-ravaged enclave after Palestinians are resettled elsewhere and develop it economically. He was speaking at a joint press conference with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Saudi Arabia rejects any attempts to displace the Palestinians from their land, Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that its stance towards the Palestinians is not negotiable.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has affirmed the kingdom’s position in ‘a clear and explicit manner’ that does not allow for any interpretation under any circumstances, the statement said.

Any proposed displacement of Palestinians is a highly sensitive matter among both Palestinians and Arab countries.

As fighting raged in the Gaza war, Palestinians feared they would suffer from another “Nakba”, or catastrophe, the time when hundreds of thousands were dispossessed of their homes in the war at the birth of the state of Israel.

When it comes to Saudi policy in the Middle East, the stakes are high for both Trump and Israel.

The United States had 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 matter in the face of Arab anger over Israel’s offensive.

Trump would like Saudi Arabia to follow in the footsteps of countries like 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, the wider Muslim world, and it is the world’s biggest oil exporter.

(Reporting by Yomna Ehab and Enas Alashray; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)