Report: PM rejected US proposal for Saudi normalization in exchange for path to Palestinian statehood

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly rejected a proposal from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that would’ve seen Saudi Arabia normalize relations with Israel in exchange for Jerusalem agreeing to provide the Palestinians with a pathway toward statehood.

Netanyahu told Blinken during his visit to Israel last week that he wasn’t prepared to make a deal that allows for a Palestinian state, NBC News reports, citing three unnamed senior US officials.

Blinken responded that Hamas cannot be removed through military means alone and that a failure by Israeli leaders to recognize this will lead to history repeating itself, a US official tells The Times of Israel, confirming this detail from the NBC report.

Blinken came to Netanyahu with the proposal after he received commitments from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and four other Arab leaders to help fund the reconstruction of Gaza after the war and support the return of a reformed PA to the Strip, NBC news says.

Bin Salman also told Blinken he was prepared to normalize relations with Israel as part of the Gaza reconstruction, two US officials have told The Times of Israel, noting that he indeed is conditioning that deal on Israeli steps toward Palestinian sovereignty. However, the officials noted that this condition falls well short of an expectation that Israel agree to the immediate establishment of a Palestinian state.

NBC reports that the only request to which Netanyahu agreed was for Israel not to launch a major attack against Hezbollah in Lebanon. US officials who spoke with The Times of Israel dispute this aspect of the report, noting that Israel also agreed to a major US request that it allow a team of UN officials into Gaza to carry out an assessment regarding the conditions required for Palestinians to be able to return to their homes in the northern Strip.

NBC cites three administration officials who claim that the administration is looking past Netanyahu to try and achieve its goals in the region, with one of them telling the network that the premier “will not be there forever.” However, two US officials tell The Times of Israel that as a matter of policy, the US is not actively planning for a post-Netanyahu era and is still seeking to work with the current premier.

Blinken did, however, hold private meetings with other members of the war cabinet, including Minister Benny Gantz, who is seen as a potential successor to Netanyahu, as well as Opposition Leader Yair Lapid.

One of the senior administration officials tells NBC that Biden’s hopes of reshaping the Middle East after the war are completely linked to the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state, which means it’ll likely have to wait until there is a different government in Israel.