NBC News: Normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia in exchange for the path to establishing a Palestinian state

According to NBC News, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s proposal to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia in exchange for Israel’s agreement to provide a path towards establishing a Palestinian state.

According to the report, Netanyahu rejected the proposal during Blinken’s visit to Israel last week, where he told the Foreign Minister that he wasn’t ready to reach a deal that would allow the Palestinians to establish a state.

In response, Blinken assured Netanyahu that Hamas cannot be removed by military means alone, and that failure by Israeli leaders to acknowledge this fact will lead to history repeating itself, according to a statement made by a US official to the Times of Israel newspaper, which confirmed what was stated in the report.

In other details, Blinken conveyed his proposal to Netanyahu after obtaining commitments from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and four other Arab leaders to finance the reconstruction of Gaza after the war with Hamas and support the return of the Palestinian Authority to the besieged Gaza Strip.

US officials indicated to The Times of Israel that Bin Salman assured Blinken of his readiness to normalize relations with Israel as part of rebuilding the Gaza Strip after the war, noting that this agreement is linked to serious steps taken by Israel towards achieving Palestinian sovereignty.

However, officials noted that this condition doesn’t mean that Israel will agree to the establishment of a Palestinian state immediately.

NBC reported that the only request Netanyahu agreed to was for Israel not to launch a major attack on Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the US officials who spoke to The Times of Israel confirmed agreement on this part.

They pointed out that Israel also agreed to another important request from the United States, which was to allow a team of United Nations officials to enter the Gaza Strip to conduct an assessment of the required conditions, so that the Palestinians could return to their homes in the north.

According to NBC news, the three US officials, whose identities weren’t disclosed, claimed that the US administration is looking beyond the Netanyahu era in an attempt to achieve its goals in the region.

If someone said, Prime Minister Netanyahu “won’t stay there forever”.