Saudi FM says ties with Israel would bring region 'tremendous benefit'

Under the so-called "Abraham Accords" brokered by former US president Donald Trump last year, four Arab states- the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan - agreed to normalise ties with the Zionist regime. 

But Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said Thursday that any deal with Saudi Arabia was "very much dependent on progress with the peace process".
 

"I think normalising Israel's status within the region would bring tremendous benefit to the region as a whole," he said during an interview with CNN.

"It would be extremely helpful both economically but also socially and from a security perspective."

While Saudi Arabia has repeatedly claimed its decades-old policy of not establishing formal ties with Israel until a deal is reached to resolve the conflict with the Palestinians, Saudies have had covert relations with Zionist in different fields, including intelligence and military.

Reports in November that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held secret talks in Saudi Arabia fuelled speculation that a normalisation accord with Saudi Arabia.

Riyadh, however, denied the meeting had taken place.

Arab- and Muslim-majority states have historically refrained from building economic and diplomatic ties with Israel out of solidarity with the Palestinians.

Last year's US-brokered accords were met with protests in many Arabic-speaking and Muslim-majority nations.