Israel President says normalisation with Saudi Arabia key to ending wars

Normalising Israel’s relations with Saudi Arabia will be a key element to ending wars, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said yesterday.

Addressing the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Herzog said Tel Aviv “lost trust in peace processes, because they see that terror is glorified by our neighbours.”

“If you ask an average Israeli now about his or her mental state, nobody in his right mind is willing now to think about what will be the solution of the peace agreements,” he added in statements cited by the Times of Israel.

The Israeli president said the destruction of Hamas will “enable a better future for the Palestinians who are our neighbours.”

“Every Israeli wants to be sure that he will not be attacked in the same way from the north, south or east,” referring to the Palestinian resistance’s infiltration of Israeli towns and villages on 7 October.

Asked about the day after the war on Gaza, Herzog said he envisions “a coalition of countries that are prepared to commit to rebuilding Gaza, in a way that allows for the safety of Israelis and Palestinians, and a different future for Gaza.”

“It is necessary that we work as hard as possible to find new ways and means to conduct dialogue with our Palestinian neighbours, but for that the basic question for every Israeli, especially after October 7, will be: What guarantees our well-being and safety?” he claimed.

To that end, he said: “The Saudi option .. is a key to the ability to exit from the war into a new horizon…  I encourage all parties who are discussing the option of normalisation with Saudi Arabia. I believe it is a gamechanger and it follows suit with the courage of nations such as Egypt, Jordan and the Abraham Accords nations such as the United Arab Emirate, the Kingdom of Morocco and the Kingdom of Bahrain.”

US-sponsored peace talks between Palestinians and Israel collapsed in 2014 over Israel’s refusal to halt the construction of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and release Palestinian detainees.

On Wednesday, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal Bin Farhan told the Davos forum that Israel can’t enjoy peace without the establishment of a Palestinian state.

READ: Saudi foreign minister calls for ceasefire with normalisation with Israel as bait