Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said on Wednesday that we are “getting closer every day” to normalizing relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, while clarifying that the Palestinian issue is still a “very important” part of the process.
The comments were rare public statements by bin Salman in English on the normalization effort, providing an added level of optimism about their chances, hours after U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the issue at a meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations discussed at the General Meeting in New York.
Bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, known colloquially as MBS, made the comments during an interview with Fox News, which published several short segments of the conversation that will air in full later Wednesday evening.
The crown prince has long been considered less hostile to Israel than his father King Salman, telling The Atlantic last year: “We don’t view Israel as an enemy, we view it as a potential ally with many possible interests to pursue together.”
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“But we have to solve some problems before we get to that,” he clarified, apparently referring to the Palestinians.
A senior Biden administration official, briefing reporters after Wednesday’s meeting between Biden and Netanyahu, said the Israeli prime minister also understands the importance of the Palestinian issue in the normalization talks.
“About this very historic move between Israel and Saudi Arabia, there is a common understanding among all leaders that all leaders involved in this will have to do some very tough things, and that includes the Prime Minister of Israel, and that includes some related components to the fundamental issue between Israelis and Palestinians,” the senior administration official said, but declined to elaborate on what that component might look like.
This would mark a shift in Netanyahu’s thinking, as he has in the past sought to publicly downplay the centrality of the Palestinian component in Saudi normalization talks. Netanyahu has long been reluctant to make concessions to the Palestinians and is now constrained by a hardline coalition that overwhelmingly rejects a two-state solution.
But the Biden administration has long held that steps to significantly advance a two-state solution are critical to the deal’s success, as the concessions will be needed to address criticism of Saudi Arabia in the Muslim and to appease the Arab world and to convince enough progressives. The Democrats in the Senate should give up their reservations about the human rights situation in Riyadh in order to support the agreement.
The closest Netanyahu has come to agreeing with the U.S. and Saudi Arabia was when a senior Israeli official briefed reporters after the Biden-Netanyahu meeting on condition of anonymity, saying the prime minister told the president that “the Palestinians will be part of the process.” “should, but.” should not have veto power over the process.”
Constrained by far-right coalition partners who oppose moves toward a Palestinian state, Netanyahu is trying to limit talks on concessions to economic projects to improve Palestinian livelihoods and aid to the financially struggling Palestinian Authority, a person familiar with the matter said official told The Times of Israel on Tuesday.
The Palestinian Authority, in talks with Saudi and American officials, has expressed its desire for U.S. support for recognition of Palestinian statehood at the United Nations, the reopening of the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem, which has historically served Palestinians, and the abolition of the Congressional legislation characterizing the PLO as a terror organization, Israel’s handover of West Bank territories to the Palestinians and the destruction of illegal outposts in the West Bank, according to officials familiar with the matter.
U.S. President Joe Biden (right) meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York on Wednesday, September 20, 2023 (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
In his public remarks at the start of his meeting with Biden, Netanyahu reiterated his belief that an Israeli-Saudi normalization agreement “would go a long way toward first advancing the end of the Arab-Israeli conflict and achieving reconciliation between the Islamic world and the Islamic world.” “We want to strengthen the Jewish state and promote real peace between Israel and the Palestinians.”
The senior Israeli official said there is a “good chance that we will succeed” in finding a path to an Israeli-Saudi normalization deal, a 50.1% probability.
“They agreed to move forward with working groups. The focus has been on how the deal can move forward, not whether it will. They went into great detail,” the official said.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf was somewhat less optimistic on Wednesday, saying during a live interview at an Al-Monitor conference in New York that the road to such an agreement is “long and rocky.” and that the USA tried to “midwife” the negotiations.
The senior Biden administration official, who briefed reporters after the Biden-Netanyahu meeting, said: “There is a fundamental disagreement not only about the importance of this issue, but also about some of the contours of what would be required.”
“Normalization is a very complicated issue… No one has ever said this is imminent,” the official said. “We’ve made some progress, but … there are some ways to move this forward before we get there.”
The administration official said Biden and Netanyahu had a “constructive” discussion on the issue “in some depth” during their meeting in New York.
Anti-overhaul activists protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he meets with U.S. President Joe Biden in New York City on September 20, 2023. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)
In return for normalizing relations with Israel, Saudi Arabia is demanding a comprehensive defense pact with the US, significant arms deals and US cooperation in establishing a civilian nuclear program on Saudi soil. Washington expects Riyadh to limit its economic and military ties with China and Russia.
Asked whether the U.S. and Israel agree on Saudi demands for U.S. assistance in establishing a civilian nuclear program, the administration official said: “Whatever is done regarding civilian nuclear cooperation with Saudi Arabia or anyone else, we “Strong U.S. nonproliferation standards will hit us.”
In another excerpt from the Fox News interview, bin Salman said that Saudi Arabia would have to acquire a nuclear weapon if Iran did so.
“If they get one, we have to get one,” he said.
Bin Salman said Saudi Arabia would be “worried” if a country acquired a nuclear weapon. However, he suggested that no one would use a nuclear weapon because it would mean starting a “war with the rest of the world.”
“The world cannot see another Hiroshima,” he added, referring to the Japanese city that was largely destroyed by a U.S. atomic bomb during World War II.
On the Saudi call for a mutual defense pact with the U.S., the senior administration official said: “The agreement contains a security component and a number of components “that are fundamentally in the interest of the United States.” That’s one of the reasons we’re obviously pursuing this, but also the possible global dimensions.”
Referring to tensions in the West Bank, the administration official reiterated that the US was “concerned about settler violence and terrorist violence,” appearing to distinguish between the two. The official said Biden and Netanyahu discussed “very constructive ideas about how to move forward” on that front.
Regarding the Israeli government’s efforts to reform the judiciary, the official said: “There is unity [between the two leaders] that there has to be a way forward that requires compromise.”
The official summarized the meeting as a “very constructive, very open – ultimately, we hope, productive – exchange that really only President Joe Biden could have with Bibi Netanyahu.”