Saudi Crown Prince: We will assist in helping the Palestinians establish a state

Elad Benari, Canada

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Friday once again stressed the importance the kingdom places on a Palestinian state.

Speaking at the Arab League summit taking place in the country, bin Salman said, according to Channel 12 News, “The Palestinian issue was and still is the main issue of the Arab countries and is at the top of the kingdom’s priorities. We will not delay in providing assistance to the Palestinian people in recovering their lands, restoring their legitimate rights and establishing an independent state within the borders of 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who attended the summit, said that “commemorating the Nakba at the UN refutes the Zionist narrative.”

In addition, he called on the Arab countries to turn to the International Criminal Court over the “Israeli occupation” and charged, “Israel violates the signed agreements and UN resolutions and adheres to the colonial Zionist project which is based on the continuation of the occupation, ethnic cleansing and apartheid.”

Haaretz noted that, in a statement summarizing the summit published after its conclusion, the members of the Arab League reaffirmed their support for the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which stipulates that 22 Arab countries will normalize ties with Israel in return for an Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria.

Israel to date has rejected the 2002 Saudi proposal due to the fact that it calls for Israel to accept the so-called “right of return” for millions of descendants of Arabs who fled pre-state Israel, effectively bringing an end to the Jewish state.

The Saudi Crown Prince’s remarks come amid reports that the White House wants to make a diplomatic push for a Saudi-Israeli peace deal in the next six to seven months.

The statements are in line with what Saudi officials have said in the past – that a Palestinian state with eastern Jerusalem as its capital is a prerequisite for Saudi Arabia normalizing ties with Israel.

(Israel National News’ North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)