Saudi Foreign Minister: Gaza Ceasefire Must Accelerate Path to Two-State Solution
Saudi Arabia has intensified its diplomatic posture regarding the war in Gaza, with Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan declaring that an immediate ceasefire must serve as a decisive step toward the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. The Kingdom’s top diplomat emphasized that halting the current violence is not an end in itself but must be utilized to revive a credible political process capable of delivering long-term stability to the region.
This declaration aligns with broader efforts by Riyadh to condition any future normalization of relations with Israel on the resolution of the Palestinian issue. Historically rooted in the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, Saudi foreign policy maintains that full diplomatic integration in the Middle East is contingent upon the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. While the United States had been actively brokering normalization talks between Saudi Arabia and Israel prior to October 7, Riyadh has since made it clear that those discussions are effectively frozen until the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is addressed and a concrete, irreversible roadmap to Palestinian statehood is established.
However, the Saudi proposal faces severe headwinds from multiple stakeholders. The current Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has repeatedly voiced strong opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state, particularly in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks. Israeli officials argue that ceding sovereignty to the Palestinians at this juncture would be interpreted as a reward for terrorism and would pose an existential security threat to Israel. Furthermore, hardliners within the Israeli coalition are pushing for indefinite security control over Gaza, a stance that fundamentally clashes with the concept of Palestinian self-determination. Simultaneously, the fractured nature of Palestinian leadership and the continued influence of militant groups in Gaza present significant internal challenges to forming the unified governance structure necessary for a two-state reality.
