Tel Aviv, MINA – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has suggested that Saudi Arabia establish a state for the Palestinians on the kingdom’s land.
“The Saudis could establish a Palestinian state in Saudi Arabia; they have a lot of land there.” “They have a lot of land there,” Netanyahu said Thursday in an interview with Israel’s Channel 14, as reported by Palestine Chronicle.
When asked whether a Palestinian state was necessary for normalization with Saudi Arabia, Netanyahu dismissed the idea, instead dismissing it as “a security threat to Israel.”
“Especially not a Palestinian state. After October 7? Do you know what that is? There is a Palestinian state, called Gaza. Gaza, led by Hamas, is a Palestinian state and look what we got,” he said.
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As for the potential for normalization with Saudi Arabia, Netanyahu is confident it will happen.
“I think peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia is not only feasible, I think it will happen,” he said.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement Wednesday that its position on the establishment of a Palestinian state is “firm and unwavering.”
Saudi leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud stressed during his speech at the opening of the Shura Council in September 2024 that his country would “continue its relentless efforts to establish an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, and will not establish diplomatic relations with Israel without that.”
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The Channel 14 interview came as Netanyahu was in Washington, D.C., where he appeared alongside U.S. President Donald Trump at a joint press conference on Tuesday, Anadolu reported. []
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
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