Saudi Arabia Warming Up To Israel? Crown Prince Says Israelis Have Right To Homeland

In what could be seen as the slow thawing of hostilities between Arab nations and Israel, Suadi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman has said that the Israelis have a right to a homeland alongside the Palestinians, reports The Telegraph.

When asked if he believed the Jews had a right to their own nation-state, the 32-year old heir to the Saudi throne said that they were entitled to live peacefully in their own land.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is among the 19 Arab League nations that do not recognise the State of Israel. For many years, it has stated that recognition of Israel was dependent on the latter’s withdrawal from lands conquered during the 1967 war – also known as the Six Day War – which the Palestinians want for themselves.

Salman also said that while his country had concerns over the mosque in Jerusalem, it had no objection against other people. He also added that Israel and Saudi had a lot of mutual interests and that peace in the region would result in a lot of interest between the Jewish state and members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

Last month, Saudi Arabia finally allowed an Israel-bound flight – Air India’s AI 139 from New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport – to fly over Saudi airspace.

The Donald Trump administration in the United States has for some time been putting pressure on the middle-eastern kingdom to lead peace talks with Israel. Saudi was among the nations to publicly condemn the United States’ move to relocate its Israeli embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. However, Arab officials have reportedly been in talks with Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas to accept a deal that might lose them East Jerusalem as their capital.

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