The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, in an unprecedented statement declared Israel’s right to exist in peace on its own land, attesting further to the informal warming of relations between Jerusalem and Riyadh. In an interview with the American daily ‘The Atlantic’, the Saudi crown prince stressed that “each people, anywhere, has a right to live in their peaceful nation,” while stressing that both “the Palestinians and the Israelis have the right to have their own land.” That said, Bin Salman emphasized that Israel and the Palestinians “have to have a peace agreement to assure the stability for everyone,” a reality that would allow for the normalization of relations between Israel and the Arab world.
When asked whether the threats posed by Iran had contributed to bringing Israel and the Gulf monarchy together, and whether in the absence of that threat he could imagine a situation in which he had other interests in common with Israel, the crown prince attributed other factors to the improved relations. He noted that “Israel is a big economy compared to (its) size…” “and of course there are a lot of interests (Saudi Arabia) shares with Israel.” Bin Salman emphasized that “if there is peace, there would be a lot of interest between Israel and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries,” including countries that already have peace with Israel, “like Egypt and Jordan.” It is important to note that while Saudi Arabia, the leading Sunni state in the Middle East, does not officially recognize Israel; in recent years, the two countries have had aligned interests, particularly on threats posed by Iran and its nuclear ambitions, that have warmed relations behind the scenes.