DUBAI (Reuters) -Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday said the kingdom would not recognise Israel without a Palestinian state and strongly condemned the “crimes of the Israeli occupation” against the Palestinian people.
“The kingdom will not stop its tireless work towards the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, and we affirm that the kingdom will not establish diplomatic relations with Israel without that,” the crown prince, known as MbS, said.
After the eruption of war last October between Israel and the militant Palestinian group Hamas that rules Gaza, Saudi Arabia put on ice U.S.-backed plans for the kingdom to normalise ties with Israel, two sources familiar with Riyadh’s thinking said earlier this year, in a swift reordering of its diplomatic priorities.
MbS, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, had said just weeks before the fighting broke out that Riyadh was getting closer to a deal.
The two sources told Reuters there would be some delay in the U.S.-backed talks on normalisation of Saudi-Israel ties, which is seen as a key step for the kingdom to secure what it considers the real prize of a U.S. defence pact in exchange.
MbS made the remarks at an annual speech to the advisory Shura Council, which he gave on behalf of his father, King Salman.
The council swore an oath of office before MbS on Wednesday before he addressed it.
(Reporting by Nayera Abdallah and Nadine Awadalla; Writing by Yousef Saba; Editing by Jon Boyle and Alex Richardson)