Saudi king reiterates Palestinian support

riyadh — The Custodian of the two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdul Aziz, reiterated Saudi Arabia’s support for a Palestinian state after his son and heir apparent said Israelis were entitled to live peacefully on their own land — a rare statement by an Arab leader.

The Saudi king also emphasised the need to advance the peace process in a phone call with United States President Donald Trump on Monday night, made after Israeli security forces killed 16 Palestinians last week during a demonstration along the Israel- Gaza border.

King Salman reaffirmed “the kingdom’s steadfast position towards the Palestinian issue and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital”, state news agency SPA said on Tuesday.

The report did not refer to the comments by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in an interview published on Monday by United States magazine The Atlantic, which are the latest public sign

King Salman reaffirms the kingdom’s steadfast position towards the Palestinian issue and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital SPA, State news agency

that ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel may be growing closer. When the crown prince was asked if he believes the Jewish people have a right to a nation-state in at least part of their ancestral homeland, Prince Mohammed was quoted as saying: “I believe the Palestinians and the Israelis have the right to have their own land.

But we have to have a peace agreement to assure the stability for everyone and to have normal relations,” the crown prince added.

Saudi Arabia does not recognise Israel. It has maintained for years that normalising relations hinges on Israeli withdrawal from Arab lands occupied in the 1967 Middle East war, territory Palestinians seek for a future state. —