Saudi Arabia is willing to recognize Israel if the Palestinian issue is resolved, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan said Tuesday.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, the foreign minister said that the first step to resolving the Palestinian issue is through a ceasefire “on all sides.”
“We agree that regional peace includes peace for Israel but that could only happen through peace for the Palestinians through a Palestinian state,” bin Farhan said.
Asked at a panel at the WEF whether Saudi Arabia could, within that context, agree to recognize Israel as part of a wider agreement, the Saudi foreign minister said “certainly.”
Some context: In 2020, four Arab nations, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan, recognized Israel under a set of treaties known as the Abraham Accords, sidestepping the longstanding Arab demand for a Palestinian state.
Since then, the Biden administration has been working to bring Saudi Arabia, widely regarded as the leader of the Muslim world, to follow suit, a move that could have opened the door to other Muslim countries to recognize Israel.
