Former top Saudi adviser: No normalization with ‘Israel’ before Palestinian statehood

A former senior adviser to the Saudi Arabia said in an editorial published on Monday that the kingdom would not normalize ties with the occupation state until a peace agreement is reached that establishes an independent Palestinian state.

Nawaf Obaid’s editorial, published in the Al Quds newspaper one day before Israelis go to the polls, was seen by analysts as an open message to ‘Israel’ after its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials have recently indicated that Saudi Arabia was on its way to normalizing relations with ‘Israel’.

Obaid, who said the views he was expressing were those held by the kingdom’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, asserted that Saudi Arabia would see normalization as a way to pressure ‘Israel’ on behalf of the Palestinians and that current Israeli policies showed it was therefore not an option.

Obaid noted the Saudi public largely holds by King Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud’s declaration that Saudi Arabia will be the last Muslim country to recognize the occupation state of ‘Israel’.

He said Saudi authorities were also very aware that some elements would see normalization with ‘Israel’ as an abandonment of Islamic values, and were therefore being “very careful” about any potential decision that could create division among their people.

Though “the door to normalization is open,” he said, such an agreement was almost impossible in the current climate of Saudi public opinion.

Israeli Kan public broadcaster assessed that though Nawaf is no longer an official adviser, he is still close enough to the royal family that he would not have published the piece without permission, making his views also a form of a public message to ‘Israel’.

Obaid was an adviser to the Kingdom from 2002 till 2015.

Saudi Arabia’s minister of state for foreign affairs, Adel al-Jubeir, on Friday said his country has not moved with regard to its position on normalizing ties with the occupation state, despite diplomatic deals by its close allies and neighbours.

In an exclusive interview with Arab News, al-Jubeir said that that the Saudi position has not changed and it still supports the Arab Peace Initiative, which offers normalization in exchange for the creation of a Palestinian state.

He said the recent normalization deals by the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan were “sovereign decisions,” but if they led to a change in Israeli policies towards Palestinians “then there may be some benefit in it”.

“But as far as the kingdom is concerned, our position remains that normalization can only come if there’s an agreement on peace,” said Jubeir.

“We want a two-state solution based on the Arab Peace Initiative and the relevant United Nations resolutions where we have a Palestinian state and living side by side in peace and security. That remains our position.”

Nevertheless, on Sunday Netanyahu played up warming ties between Jerusalem and Riyadh ahead of Tuesday’s election.

“We will have direct flights for Muslim Israeli pilgrims from Tel Aviv to Mecca,” he claimed in an interview with Army Radio.

Last week Netanyahu told the Ynet website that there were “four more peace agreements” on the way, after Israel last year reached normalization agreements with the United Arab Emirates Kuwait, Sudan and Morocco.

Netanyahu did not name the countries but later the same day Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen told Radio 100FM that the countries nearest to signing deals were Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, and Niger.