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Saudi Arabia and Israel deny reports of normalisation 'breakthrough'

A Saudi official denied reports that there has been a breakthrough regarding a normalisation deal with Israel, reiterating demands for a Palestinian state.
3 min read
18 December, 2024
A Saudi official denied reports that there has been a breakthrough regarding a normalisation deal with Israel [Getty]

Both Saudi Arabia and Israel have denied reports claiming that there has been a "breakthrough" in normalisation talks between them.

Israeli news site Haaretz reported on Tuesday that the normalisation deal could be linked to the potential Gaza ceasefire deal.

Citing sources familiar with the negotiations, Haaretz said the two sides agreed that Israel would give a vague commitment to a "path towards Palestinian statehood".

The Times of Israel said many Israeli politicians understood the report that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was agreeing to promise a Palestinian state.

However, the claims were quickly shut down by both Saudi Arabia and Israel.

Netanyahu’s office called the report "a complete lie".

A statement from his office added that "Netanyahu has worked and is working against the establishment of a Palestinian state that will endanger Israel's security".

Saudi Arabia also rapidly shut down the reports, clarifying there was no truth to them.

Axios reporter Barak Ravid posted a statement from a Saudi official who said there was no such breakthrough, adding that Saudi Arabia "has always been steadfast on the Palestinian issue and the necessity that the brotherly Palestinian people obtain their legitimate rights".

"The Kingdom has communicated its firm position to the US administration that there will be no diplomatic relations with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is recognised on the 1967 borders with east Jerusalem as its capital, and that the aggression on the Gaza Strip stops and all Israeli occupation forces withdraw from the Gaza Strip," the statement reads.

The Saudi official also said that "the notion that the kingdom’s leadership has somehow modified its longstanding commitment to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state is equally baseless."

Since Israel launched its war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has denounced the siege and bombardment of the strip as genocide.

He has also reiterated that there would be no normalisation deal signed with Israel unless a Palestinian state is recognised.

However, this has contradicted reports in Haaretz, citing sources close to Netanyahu who said the crown prince has "no personal interest in formal recognition of a Palestinian state and only requires progress on the issue to secure domestic political and religious support for the deal".

The US has been attempting to broker a Saudi-Israel normalisation deal for years with no success, with the war on Gaza now making it less likely.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 45,097 Palestinians and wounded over 107,244 others since October 2023. The bombardment of the Strip has levelled entire neighbourhoods, decimated the infrastructure and plunged the enclave into a deep humanitarian crisis.

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