Mike Pompeo rules out normalisation between Saudi, Israel

Former US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, said that reaching a peace agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel may be impossible if the prerequisite is the Palestinians obtaining or accepting a Palestinian state.

In an interview with the Jerusalem Post, Pompeo added: “It is impossible to imagine a two-state solution with the current Palestinian leadership who is underwriting terrorism, taking money from Iran, paying citizens to kill Israelis.”

“It is very difficult to imagine how one would strike a deal with the very leaders that have rejected every reasonable offer with which they have been presented,” he added.

Pompeo’s statements came the day after Saudi Arabia’s first Ambassador to Palestine, Nayef Al-Sudairi, visited Ramallah and stressed that the kingdom considers the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital to be the fundamental cornerstone of any prospective agreement with Israel.

Pompeo believes that every American president would support the normalisation agreement, whether Democrat or Republican, because it is in the interest of the US to have security relations between the US, Saudi Arabia and Israel.

He considered that normalisation between Saudi Arabia and the occupation would “be more easily attainable with a Republican president, meaning one that understands the greatest threat to peace in the region is Iran.”

He explained that the Abraham Accords advanced because of the Trump administration’s recognition of Israel as America’s main democratic ally in the region, while identifying Iran as the leading state sponsor of terrorism, and a major threat to all other countries.

Pompeo added: “When we isolate Iran, the region becomes more peaceful and prosperous.”

READ: Saudi Arabia does not care about Palestine or Jerusalem; it cares about Israel