CAIRO: King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia has told US President Donald Trump there would be no normalisation of ties with Israel without Palestinian statehood, the kingdom’s state news agency reported on Monday.
The leaders spoke by phone following a US-brokered accord last month under which the UAE agreed to become the third Arab state to normalise ties with Israel after Egypt and Jordan.
King Salman told Trump he appreciated US efforts to support peace and that Saudi Arabia wanted to see a fair and permanent solution to the Palestinian issue based on the Arab Peace Initiative proposed by the kingdom in 2002.
Trump welcomed the opening of Saudi airspace to flights between Israel and the UAE, a White House spokesman said. This month, Saudi Arabia said it would allow flights between UAE and Israel, including by Israeli aircraft, to use its airspace.