Saudi's Assertion Amid Trump-Netanyahu Rhetoric On Displacing Gazans
On Sunday, Saudi Arabia strongly slammed Israel, stating that Palestinians are not intruders or immigrants who can be expelled whenever the “brutal Israeli occupation wishes.” The remark comes amid calls from US president Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for displacing Palestinians from Gaza to some neighboring countries.
Saudi’s official statement comes after Benjamin Netanyahu suggested that Palestinians should establish their state in Saudi Arabia rather than in their own homeland, rejecting any notion of Palestinian sovereignty. “The Saudis can create a Palestinian state in Saudi Arabia; they have a lot of land over there,” Netanyahu said. Last week, President Trump also suggested that Washington would take over Gaza and resettle Palestinians elsewhere.
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Several Arab countries have turned furious at the Israeli leader’s bizarre statement. Countries including Egypt, Jordan, and the UAE, among others, condemned the Israeli proposal.
Since the Israeli atrocities in Gaza in October 2023, the Saudi-Israeli normalisation talks, spearheaded by the US, have been hit. Since the signing of the 2020 Abraham Accord, there have been high hopes that the two countries would engage in trade and other bilateral relationships. With the ceasefire and hostage-exchange deal between Israel and Hamas, there were assumptions that the two normalization measures would be started.
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However, Saudi Arabia has asserted that there will be no normalization with Israel unless it pursues a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians. With the recent rhetoric from the US and Israeli leadership on displacing Gazans, the kingdom has turned more assertive in its stance by categorically rejecting such claims while reassuring the right of Palestinians to their land.
In the official response to the Israeli leader’s statement, Saudi Arabia stated, “This extremist, occupying mentality does not understand what the Palestinian land means to the brotherly people of Palestine,” adding that Israel does not think that the Palestinian people deserve to live in the first place.
The Kingdom pointed out that Israel has been systematically practicing injustice towards the Palestinian people for more than 75 years, adding that the proponents of these extremist ideas are the ones who prevented Israel from accepting peace.
The statement further asserted that the right of the Palestinian people will remain firmly established, and no one will be able to take it away from them no matter how long it takes.
The Kingdom also warned that lasting peace will not be achieved except by returning to the logic of reason and accepting the principle of peaceful coexistence through the two-state solution.
Both Israel and Saudi had appeared on the brink of striking a deal for normalization, potentially protecting US, Israel and the kingdom’s interest in trade, defense cooperation, civil nuclear cooperation and investment, Israeli-Palestinian conflict among others. With the conflict and a furious and rhetorical Israel, Saudi’s decision that there will be no normalization without a two state solution, it is assumed that the suffered Palestinians would get their freedom for the blood.
