 "Trump says Saudis haven't demanded Palestinian state, here's what they've actually said")
In a brazen press conference in which US President Donald Trump said the United States will take over the Gaza Strip, he also claimed that Saudi Arabia has not been demanding the creation of a Palestinian state.
In his second term, the Trump administration is set to resume efforts of the previous Joe Biden administration, which were derailed by the October 7 attack that triggered the Israel-Hamas War, to strike a deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia for the normalisation of relationship. Saudi Arabia has, however, maintained that Palestinian statehood, or at least a pathway towards statehood, is a must for such a deal.
Trump on Tuesday said that Saudis have not made any such demand.
When asked if Saudi Arabia had demanded Palestinian statehood, Trump said “no, they’re not”.
When asked again if Saudis have demanded at least a pathway to statehood, Trump said “everyone is demanding one thing — peace”.
Within hours, Saudi Arabia issued a statement junking Trump’s remarks. The statement said that there would not be any normalisation deal with Israel without Palestinian statehood. This is not a new position that Saudis have taken just now but has been one they have stated over the years.
‘No deal with Isael before Palestinian statehood’
In a statement issued with remarkable urgency, Saudi Arabia said that there would not be any deal with Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. The statement said that Saudi Arabia remains “firm, unwavering” in the commitment to Palestinian statehood.
To outline the Saudi position on the issue, the statement in Arabic referred to a speech by Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of the kingdom, to the government’s main advisory body in which he said that “the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will not stop its tireless work towards the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, and that the Kingdom will not establish diplomatic relations with Israel without that”.
In an apparent reaction to Trump’s proposals to relocate Palestinians outside of Gaza and amid indications he could greenlight Israel’s annexation of West Bank, the statement said that Saudis are committed to a Palestinian state in line with 1967 borders. The statement stressed the “previously announced categorical rejection of any infringement on the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, whether through Israeli settlement policies, annexation of Palestinian lands, or attempts to displace the Palestinian people from their land”.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts#بيان | تؤكد وزارة الخارجية أن موقف المملكة العربية السعودية من قيام الدولة الفلسطينية هو موقف راسخ وثابت لا يتزعزع، وقد أكد سمو #ولي_العهد رئيس مجلس الوزراء - حفظه الله - هذا الموقف بشكل واضح وصريح لا يحتمل التأويل بأي حال من الأحوال pic.twitter.com/wAkDX2p5W1
— وزارة الخارجية 🇸🇦 (@KSAMOFA) February 5, 2025
Last year, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said that a deal with Saudi Arabia was “off the table until we have a resolution to a Palestinian state”.
As Israel has repeatedly sought to disconnect regional peace initiatives with the Palestinian cause, Faisal said that if the issue is not addressed, “we are setting ourselves for a continuing cycle of violence that serves no one except the extremists”.
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