Riyadh urges UNSC members to recognise Palestinian state on 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as capital
\nRIYADH
\nSaudi Arabia has told the United States it will not open diplomatic relations with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is recognised on 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, its foreign ministry said on Wednesday.
\nRiyadh reiterated its call for permanent members of the UN Security Council that have not recognised a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital to do so, a ministry statement said.
\nIt was referring to a state the Palestinians have long sought to establish alongside Israel in territories Israel occupied in a 1967 war: the West Bank including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.
\nThe statement added that \u201cIsraeli aggression\u201d against the Gaza Strip must also stop and Israeli forces must withdraw from the territory.
\nThe United States had led months of diplomacy to get Saudi Arabia to normalise ties with Israel and recognise the country until the Gaza war began in October, leading Riyadh to shelve the matter in the face of Arab anger over Israel\u2019s offensive.
\nReuters reported last week that Saudi Arabia would be willing to accept a political commitment from Israel to create a Palestinian state, rather than anything more binding, to try to get a defence pact with Washington approved before this year\u2019s US presidential election.
\nUS Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is touring the region, said Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had \u201creiterated Saudi Arabia\u2019s strong interest in pursuing\u201d normalisation when they met this week.
\n\u201cBut he also made clear what he had said to me before, which is that in order to do that two things are required: an end to the conflict in Gaza and a clear, credible, time-bound path to the establishment of a Palestinian state,\u201d Blinken said.
\nOn Tuesday, White House National Security spokesperson John Kirby said that the Biden administration has received positive feedback that Saudi Arabia and Israel are willing to continue to have normalisation discussions.
\nMinistry statement
\nThe Saudi foreign ministry statement said the \u201cKingdom has communicated its firm position to the US administration that there will be no diplomatic relations with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is recognized on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital\u201d.
\nIt reiterated \u201cits call to the permanent members of the UN Security Council that have not yet recognized the Palestinian state, to expedite the recognition of the Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital\u201d.
\nThe Gaza war has put renewed focus on the idea of the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, even though negotiations have been moribund for years.
\nIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will not compromise on full Israeli security west of the Jordan River and that this stands contrary to a Palestinian state.
\nCountries including the United States and Britain have reiterated their support for the two-state solution.
\nBritish Foreign Secretary David Cameron said last week there would be a time when Britain would look to recognise a Palestinian state, including at the United Nations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Riyadh urges UNSC members to recognise Palestinian state on 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as capital RIYADH Saudi Arabia has told the United States it will not open diplomatic relations with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is recognised on 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, its foreign ministry said on Wednesday. Riyadh […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385932,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-385912","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n