Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said that the country might recognize Israel if a complete peace was reached that includes Palestinian statehood, an ambitious statement as Israel's battle with Hamas shows no signs of abating.
"We agree that regional peace includes peace for Israel, but that could only happen through peace for the Palestinians through a Palestinian state," Prince Faisal bin Farhan said during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
When asked if Saudi Arabia would then recognize Israel as part of a broader political deal, he replied, "Certainly."
Prince Faisal said securing regional peace through the creation of a Palestinian state was "something we have been indeed working on with the U.S. administration, and it is more relevant in the context of Gaza."
After establishing diplomatic connections with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco, Israel's ultimate goal would be to reach a normalization agreement with Saudi Arabia, which might change Middle Eastern geopolitics.
The Sunni Muslim kingdom, the most powerful country in the Arab world and the location of Islam's most important sites, exercise significant religious clout worldwide.
Following the outbreak of war last October between Israel and the militant Palestinian group Hamas, which rules Gaza, Saudi Arabia halted US-backed plans for the kingdom to normalize relations with Israel, according to two sources familiar with Riyadh's thinking, in a quick reordering of diplomatic priorities.
According to the two sources, there would be some delay in the US-backed talks on normalizing Saudi-Israeli relations, considered a critical step for the kingdom to obtain what it deems the true prize of a US security contract in exchange.
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