Palestinians: Saudi Arabia won’t normalize ties with Israel before peace

The Palestinians claim they have the full support of the Saudis, and are denying a report that the Saudis are forcing them to accept a US peace initiative.  

By: World Israel News Staff

Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz told Palestinian Authority (PA) head Mahmoud Abbas that the kingdom will not normalize its relations with Israel before a peaceful solution is reached in the Palestinian conflict, Palestinain Foreign Minister Riad Malki said on Tuesday.

Malki said the Saudi monarch clarified the issue to Abbas during his unplanned visit to Riyadh last week, the official WAFA news agency reported Wednesday.

Malki further remarked that Saudi Arabia stated it fully supports the Palestinians’ efforts to “reach a settlement based on the international resolutions.”

He reportedly made the remarks while meeting with a group of Swedish parliamentarians at his office in Ramallah

This report contradicts a previous report by Israel’s Channel 10 from Sunday that Saudi Arabia summoned Abbas and presented him with an ultimatum in which he is to accept a US peace initiative or resign.

The Palestinians have denied the report.

A spokesperson for Abbas’ Fatah party told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that the report was not true and that Abbas’ meeting with Saudi officials had gone well.

“We completely reject the Israeli report. This is not true at all. Abbas’ meeting in Saudi was a positive one,” Fatah spokesman Osama Qawasmeh told Al-Jazeera.

“The Saudis expressed support for the Palestinian position, which is a two-state solution built on the June 1967 borders, in line with international law. They also expressed support for the Palestinian reconciliation. Our position and the Saudi position are aligned,” he stated.

The Channel 10 report also said that Saudi officials were outraged that officials from the Hamas terror group, which recently reconciled with Fatah, had visited Iran, Saudi Arabia’s arch-enemy.