Saudi Arabian negotiations with Israel mean the prospects of normalized relations between the two is getting closer every day, but treatment of Palestinians remains a “very important” issue to be resolved, Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman said in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday.
Saudi Arabia is discussing a major agreement with the US to normalize relations with Israel in exchange for a US defense pact and aid in developing its own civilian nuclear program.
Riyadh has said that any deal would require major progress toward the creation of a Palestinian state.
Photo: Reuters
“For us, the Palestinian issue is very important. We need to solve that part,” Prince Mohammad said on Special Report with Bret Baier in an interview conducted in English, adding that there had been “good negotiations” so far.
“We got to see where we go,” he said. “We hope that will reach a place, that it will ease the life of the Palestinians, get Israel as a player in the Middle East.”
He also denied reports that the talks had been suspended, saying: “Every day, we get closer.”
The interview aired shortly after US President Joe Biden met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while both were in New York for the UN General Assembly.
Biden raised concerns about the Israeli government’s treatment of the Palestinians and urged Netanyahu to take steps to improve conditions in the West Bank.
Netanyahu’s office said that the meeting with Biden “mostly dealt with ways to establish an historic peace agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which could greatly advance an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict and facilitate the establishment of an economic corridor to link Asia, the Middle East and Europe.”
Asked during the interview about working with someone as conservative as Netanyahu, Prince Mohammad said: “If we have a breakthrough, reaching a deal that gives the Palestinians their needs and [making] the region calm, we’ve got to work with whoever’s there.”
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