Netanyahu is in Washington, where he and Trump have made controversial remarks about displacing Gaza’s Palestinians [Oliver Contreras/AFP via Getty]
Arab governments have slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s remarks that a Palestinian state should be established in Saudi Arabia.
Netanyahu – wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza – suggested earlier this week that Palestinians should be moved to Saudi Arabia which has “a lot of land,” calling a Palestinian state a “security threat” to Israel.
Riyadh quickly rebuffed the Israeli leader’s comments in a foreign ministry statement, reiterating that normalisation with Israel would only be possible if an independent Palestinian state was established.
Netanyahu and his far-right government have outright rejected a Palestinian state, which many Palestinians want to see include the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, with occupied East Jerusalem as its capital.
The comments came amid Netanyahu’s visit to Washington this week, where he appeared alongside US President Donald Trump, who unveiled a controversial plan to “take over” Gaza and displace millions of Palestinians.
The plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza, widely condemned by international leaders and legal experts, included the expulsion of Palestinians to neighbouring countries under the premise of reconstruction.
Responding to Netanyahu’s remarks on Saudi Arabia in a post on X, Hussein Al-Sheikh, secretary of the PLO’s Executive Committee, condemned the Israeli stance which he said violates international law and international conventions, stressing that “the State of Palestine will only be on the land of Palestine”.
The Egyptian foreign ministry said that it “condemns in the strongest terms the irresponsible and totally rejected statements issued by the Israeli side, which incite against Saudi Arabia…in direct violation of Saudi sovereignty and a flagrant violation of the rules of international law and the Charter of the United Nations”.
“Egypt completely rejects these reckless statements that harm the security and sovereignty of the kingdom,” the ministry said in a statement, adding that Saudi Arabia and respect for its sovereignty is a “red line that Egypt will not allow to be crossed”.
Trump had initially last month proposed moving Palestinians in Gaza to neighbouring Egypt, as well as to Jordan which neighbours the occupied West Bank, which Cairo and Amman have refused.
Since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023, both Egypt and Jordan have repeatedly warned against any attempts to move the Palestinians out of their lands and into the neighbouring countries.
Jordan’s foreign ministry said Sunday the Israeli government continues to issue provocative policies and statements, which undermine the sovereignty of states and the rules of international law.
The ministry stressed Jordan’s “absolute rejection of these provocative statements, which reflect an exclusionary ideology that is hostile to peace, and push for further escalation in the region”.
“The Israeli government will not succeed in covering up the fact that the continued occupation and the violation of the rights of the Palestinian people are the basis of the conflict in the region,” the ministry added, as it called on the international community to denounce Netanyahu’s statements.
Saudi neighbour the United Arab Emirates also expressed its “strong condemnation and denunciation of Netanyahu’s unacceptable and provocative statements”.
Minister of State Khalifa Bin Shaheen Al Marar expressed “the UAE’s full solidarity with brotherly Saudi Arabia and standing with it in one row against every threat to its security, stability and sovereignty,” according to a statement by the foreign ministry.
“Saudi Arabia’s sovereignty is a red line, and the UAE does not allow any country to bypass or infringe on it,” Al Marar said.
The UAE normalised ties with Israel in 2020 as part of the controversial Abraham Accords, along with Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco.
Sudan, embroiled in a nearly two-year conflict which and currently facing the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, also denounced “the irresponsible statements issued by the Israeli government regarding the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the violation of its sovereignty and a challenge to international laws and norms.”
Netanyahu’s remarks about a Palestinian state in Saudi territory “represents Israel’s persistence in violating the rights of the Palestinian people and violating the rules of international law and United Nations charters,” the Sudanese foreign ministry said in a statement.
Though Khartoum and Tel Aviv normalised ties in 2020, no measures have been taken to open diplomatic missions due to the war still raging in Sudan.
Speaker of the Arab Parliament – the legislative branch of the Arab League – stressed that Saudi Arabia’s security and stability were an integral part of wider Arab national security, which cannot be compromised.
Speaker Mohammed Ahmed Al-Yamahi reiterated the parliament’s categorical rejection of all statements that go against the sovereignty of Arab countries, saying Netanyahu’s comments are “a flagrant infringement on the legitimate and inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to establish their independent state on all their national territory in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem in accordance with the lines of the fourth of June 1967”.
For its part, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) also issued a statement condemning Netanyahu’s remarks, stressing that “these racist statements come within the framework of Israel’s continued denial of the historical, political and legal rights of the native Palestinian people in their homeland”.
The 57-member, Saudi-based organisation reiterated its rejection to any plans to displace the Palestinian people, describing it as “ethnic cleansing, a crime and a flagrant violation of international law”.
