 "MBS had heated exchange with Trump over Israel, rejected Abraham Accords: Report")
US President Donald Trump had a heated exchange with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman when he suggested that Saudi Arabia should normalise the relationship with Israel, according to a report.
Axios reported that the two leaders got into a heated exchange when Trump broached the subject of Saudi-Israel normalisation as part of Abraham Accords’ expansion as MBS —as the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia is widely known as— rejected the idea and pushed back.
MBS told Trump there could not be any normalisation until the end of the war in Gaza and the resolution of the issue of Palestine’s statehood, as per the report.
Trump hosted MBS at White House on November 18. While they raised investment pledge and signed deals for nuclear energy and artificial intelligence (AI), he could not make any progress on his biggest priorities of pushing MBS to join Abraham Accords and persuading him to not get closer to China.
MBS tells Trump conditions for normalisation with Israel
Saudi Arabia has maintained for a long time that there could not be any normalisation agreement with Israel until the end of the war in Gaza and resolution of the question of Palestine’s statehood. It has maintained that an irrevocable pathway to Palestinian statehood is a pre-condition to any normalisation deal.
In the tense White House meeting, MBS conveyed the same to Trump directly, according to Axios.
During the Nov. 18 meeting, when Trump raised the issue and pressed hard MBS to join the Abraham Accords, the conversation got tense, US officials told Axios.
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View AllMBS explained to Trump that while he wanted to do move forward with normalisation with Israel, he could not do so at the moment because Saudi public opinion remained highly anti-Israel because of the war in Gaza, according to the report.
MBS said that the Saudi society was not ready for such a move now, three sources told Axios.
Even as the conversation was tough, it was civil, an official said.
“The best way to say it is disappointment and irritation. The president really wants them to join the Abraham Accord. He tried very hard to talk him. It was an honest discussion. But MBS is a strong man. He stood his ground,” a source said.
On his part, MBS demanded that any future normalisation should include a clause about the establishment of “an irreversible, credible and time-bound path” for a Palestinian state. .
“MBS never said no to normalisation. The door is open for doing it later. But the two-state solution is an issue,” a US official told Axios.
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