Saudi crown prince recognizes Israel’s right to exist

Dubai: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has recognized Israel's right to exist and extolled the prospect of future diplomatic relations between his kingdom and the Jewish state.

In an extensive interview with an American publication, Prince Mohammed laid out his vision for the future of the Middle East, including the possibility of cooperation with Israel.

Asked whether he believes "the Jewish people have a right to a nation-state in at least part of their ancestral homeland," he replied: "I believe that each people, anywhere, has a right to live in their peaceful nation. I believe the Palestinians and the Israelis have the right to have their own land",  said bin Salman during an interview with the Atlantic published on Monday.

According to the interviewer Jeffrey Goldberg, no Arab leader has ever so explicitly acknowledged right of the Jewish people to have a nation-state of their own next to a Palestinian state.

Prince Mohammed is on a seemingly endless pilgrimage to the nodes of American power (he is in Hollywood this week). 

Prince Mohammed's father, the 82-year-old King Salman, is not overly infirm, but it is clear that his son is already in charge. And if the prince, his many handlers, and his partisans on Wall Street and in the White House (especially his fellow prince, Jared Kushner) are to be believed, he is in a genuine hurry to overturn the traditional Saudi order, Goldberg wrote.

Bin Salman added that kingdom has no problems with Jews and that "there are a lot of interests we share with Israel."

He further noted that Saudi Arabia would establish economic ties with the Tel Aviv regime after conflict with the Palestinian Authority is settled.

The announcement is the latest step in the kingdom's path moving towards normalization of diplomatic relations with the Tel Aviv regime.

According to the former U.S. peace negotiator Dennis Ross, moderate Arab leaders have spoken of the reality of Israel's existence, but acknowledgement of any sort of "right" to Jewish ancestral land has been a red line no leader has crossed until now.

The Saudi prince divided the Middle East into two warring camps. He called the camp led by the Islamic Republic of Iran as the "triangle of evil," and said this camp includes Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood and Hezbollah; and an alliance of self-described moderate states that includes Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

He even likened Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to Hitler. "Hitler didn't do what the supreme leader is trying to do. Hitler tried to conquer Europe. ... The supreme leader is trying to conquer the world."

According to Goldberg, another key--though sub rosa--member of Prince Mohammed's alliance is Israel, a country about which Saudi de facto ruler did not have a bad word to say. 

Ahead of the Atlantic interview, bin Salman met with the leaders of a number of pro-Israeli lobbying groups during his tour of the United States.

According to a leaked copy of his itinerary, the Israeli Haaretz daily reported that bin Salman had conferred with officials from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Stand Up for Israel (ADL), the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), Presidents' Conference, B'nai B'rith and the American Jewish Committee (AJC).

Speaking in an interview with France 24 television news network on December 13, 2017, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said the kingdom has a "roadmap" to establish full diplomatic ties with the Tel Aviv regime.

The Israeli military's chief-of-staff, Gadi Eizenkot, recently said the regime was ready to share intelligence with Saudi Arabia on Iran.