Saudi FM: Normalisation with Israel to ‘bring tremendous benefits to the region’

Normalising ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel would “bring tremendous benefits to the region as a whole,” Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Faisal Bin Farhan Al-Saud announced on Thursday.

“It [normalisation] would be extremely helpful economically, socially and from a security perspective,” he expressed in the interview with CNN.

Bin Farhan stated that his country’s normalisation of ties with Israel: “Depends to a large extent on the progress of the peace process,” adding that it could be achieved only after the creation of a Palestinian state within 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

“What we need to happen is a peace deal that delivers a Palestinian state with dignity and with a workable sovereignty that Palestinians can accept,” Prince Faisal explained in December of last year.

The Saudi Foreign Minister communicated that the normalisation of ties with Israel has long been part of Saudi Arabia’s vision, noting that the kingdom imagines this to happen in exchange for the creation of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders.

The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain signed normalisation deals with Israel in September of last year. Sudan and Morocco have since followed suit.

The deals were the first since Israel’s recognition by Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994.

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