Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said the kingdom is getting closer to reaching a normalisation deal with Israel, denying reports that negotiations were halted.
Mohammed said that “good negotiations” are on going, local media reported.
“Every day we get closer,” he said.
“For us, the Palestinian issue is very important, we need to solve that part,” the Saudi de-facto leader said.
“We hope that it would reach a place that will ease the lives of Palestinians and get Israel as a player in the Middle East.”
For months, there has been speculation as to whether Saudi Arabia could be the next country in the Arab world to normalise its relations with Israel.
In September 2020, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain were the first two Gulf countries to establish diplomatic relations with Israel in 2020 under U.S. mediation.
Officially, Riyadh has no relations with Israel, but covertly the two countries have been working together on security issues for some time.
Reports suggested that a deal would be linked to security guarantees by the U.S. for Saudi Arabia and help in developing its civilian nuclear programme.
Negotiations also come at a time as Saudi Arabia resumes its diplomatic relations with Iran, an arch foe of Israel.
While Iran and Saudi Arabia have a long history as bitter regional rivals, the China-brokered rapprochement had “a good start,” Mohammed said.
“What we see from the Iranians is that they are taking it very seriously and they are doing their best,” he added.
