Saudi Crown Prince says Israel has 'right' to a homeland
WASHINGTON : The Crown Prince and de facto leader of Saudi Arabia said Israel has a "right" to a homeland, a notable shift in the kingdom's position published on Monday.
Both countries see Iran as their biggest external threat and the United States as their key ally, and both see danger from armed Islamist extremists.
Israel's conflict with the Palestinians has long proved an obstacle to a full rapprochement with the Saudis.
But now Crown Prince Mohammed Salman - speaking to the editor-in-chief of US news magazine The Atlantic - appeared to put the rival land claims on an equal footing.
The prince was asked by Mr Jeffrey Goldberg whether the "Jewish people have a right to a nation-state in at least part of their ancestral homeland"?
"I believe that each people, anywhere, has a right to live in their peaceful nation," said the Prince, who is on a three-week tour to the US.
"I believe the Palestinians and the Israelis have the right to have their own land," he added.
"But we have to have a peace agreement to assure the stability for everyone."
Since 2002, Saudi Arabia has been the main sponsor of the Arab Peace Initiative, which envisions a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
But no such senior Saudi official is known to have previously accepted that Israel has a "right" to any land beyond the practical need to secure a lasting deal.
But he told Mr Goldberg he had no "religious objection" to Israelis living alongside Palestinians, so long as the main Muslim holy site in Jerusalem - the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound - is protected.
"We have religious concerns about the fate of the holy mosque in Jerusalem and about the rights of the Palestinian people," said the Prince .
"This is what we have. We don't have any objection against any other people."
Meanwhile, Saudi King Salman Abdulaziz Al Saud reaffirmed support for Palestinians to US President Donald Trump, state media said yesterday, after his son's comments.
He "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," the official Saudi Press Agency said. - AFP
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