DAVOS: Saudi Arabia is unable to pursue talks about a landmark deal to recognise Israel until there is a ceasefire in Gaza, the kingdom’s ambassador to the United States said on Thursday.

“I think the most important thing to realise is the kingdom has not put normalisation at the heart of its policy. It’s put peace and prosperity at the heart of its policy,” Princess Reema bint Bandar al-Saud told a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

“The kingdom has been quite clear. While there is violence on the ground and the killing persists, we cannot talk about the next day.”

Saudi Arabia has never recognised Israel and did not join the 2020 US-brokered Abraham Accords that saw its Gulf neighbours Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates as well as Morocco establish formal ties with Israel. US President Joe Biden’s administration has pushed hard for Saudi Arabia to take the same step.

Under de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, son of the ageing King Salman, Riyadh had laid out conditions for normalisation, including security guarantees from Washington and help developing a civilian nuclear programme.

In an interview with Fox News in September, Prince Mohammed said that “every day we get closer” to a deal, although he also insisted the Palestinian issue was “very important” for Riyadh.

That apparent momentum stalled soon after Hamas raid on Oct 7. One week later, a source familiar with the normalisation talks said Saudi Arabia had paused the process.

‘Cooler heads must prevail’

Earlier this week, also in Davos, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said Riyadh was still “certainly” open to the possibility of future ties with Israel, but also stressed the need for a ceasefire and the creation of a Palestinian state.

“We don’t see any real sign that any strategic objectives that Israel has claimed are... coming any closer,” he added.

Princess Reema elaborated on the Saudi position on Thursday, saying that “cooler heads must prevail”..

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2024