![Saudi Ambassdor to the UK Khalid bin Bandar bin Sultan al-Saud walks through the Central Lobbey as he attends the State Opening of Parliament at the Houses of Parliament in London on December 19, 2019. [ADRIAN DENNIS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/GettyImages-1189625814.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
Saudi Arabia will not normalise ties with the occupation state of Israel without a solution to the Palestinian issue, which involves the establishment of a Palestinian state, the Kingdom’s
Ambassador to the UK, Khalid Bin Bandar Al Saud, has said.
“Saudi Arabia is a country that engages with everyone, whether we like it or not. We believe engagement is the way to move things forward, and so we are happy to continuously engage in processes with anyone, but we do have some red lines, and for us to end the last 75 years of pain and suffering caused by one problem has to include a Palestinian state,” Al Saud told Times Radio.
He added that Palestine has been fought over for 6,000 years, and that “it is not an easy thing to find, whether it’s during the Crusades […] I can’t think of anywhere that’s had that much done to it.”
However, he stressed that “good things are never easy. And anyone who is objecting to what almost the whole world sees as the solution cannot be right. So, you know, again, that’s why I’m not optimistic, because we have a lot of problems along the way.”
Al Saud asserted that “there’s no other solution” other than a two-state solution.
Speaking to the BBC in another interview, he stressed that “honesty is very important, and the only solution is to establish a Palestinian state.