PA official: Saudi Arabia promised it won’t normalize ties with Israel before establishment of Palestinian state

By Nurit Yohanan

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17 November 2025, 3:50 pm

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Nurit Yohanan is The Times of Israel's Palestinian and Arab world correspondent

Palestinian Authority Prime minister Mohammed Mustafa, center, and Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, right, speak to Saudi's Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud, during the Cairo Ministerial Conference to Enhance the Humanitarian Response in Gaza, in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Dec. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

A senior Palestinian Authority official close to PA President Mahmoud Abbas tells The Times of Israel that Saudi Arabia has assured the PA in closed-door talks that it will not normalize ties with Israel before the establishment of a Palestinian state based on the pre-1967 lines.

“They told us they will not abandon the Palestinians. Resolving the Palestinian issue is the gateway to normalization with Israel,” the official says.

Tomorrow, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is expected to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House, where the latter is expected to push Riyadh to join the Abraham Accords.

The PA official adds that the PA trusts the Saudi commitment and is not worried about a shift in Riyadh’s position, despite past normalization agreements signed by several Gulf states under the Abraham Accords.

“Saudi Arabia’s position is stable: first a solution, then normalization,” the PA official says.

Regarding talks between Fatah and Hamas about Gaza’s future, the official stresses that the PA will not accept Hamas remaining as an armed militia in the Strip. He says the PA made clear to Hamas that it must hand over its weapons either to the Palestinian Authority or to the Arab League, but that Hamas had refused.