Saudi Arabia signs statement calling Israel a source of instability — Jerusalem Post

Saudi Arabia, along with Turkey, Pakistan, and Egypt, signed a joint statement that called the Israeli occupation the main source of instability in the region and beyond. At the same time, analysts interviewed by the Jerusalem Post do not view this step as Saudi Arabia’s final rejection of the prospect of joining the Abraham Accords.

Conditions for normalization

Gulf states analyst Ahmed Alkhuzayeh said the joint document demonstrates regional rapprochement among major states whose strategic priorities do not always coincide. In his view, the signatories see the Palestinian issue not as an isolated conflict, but as one of the key factors of broader regional instability.

Alkhuzayeh noted that Saudi Arabia has traditionally combined support for Palestinians with pragmatic diplomacy. However, support for wording that places responsibility for instability on Israeli policy, as well as reaffirmation of support for a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, indicates, in his assessment, Riyadh’s desire to act within a broader Arab and Muslim framework.

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The Palestinian issue and regional security

According to the analyst, the statement means that the political and diplomatic conditions for normalizing Saudi-Israeli relations have become significantly more complicated. He believes that Saudi Arabia is unlikely to separate the development of relations with Israel from real progress in the Palestinian settlement.

The document also condemned Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and maritime shipping. Alkhuzayeh linked the Palestinian issue, regional security, shipping stability, and de-escalation in relations with Iran into a single complex of regional policy.

Waqas Javed, the special representative of the Global Abrahamic Movement in Saudi Arabia, also said that Riyadh may have grounds to strengthen defense ties with Pakistan and Turkey. At the same time, such partnerships, he said, are not necessarily directed against Israel or indicative of abandoning the Abraham Accords. He added that Saudi Arabia can maintain independent diplomatic ties with these countries while simultaneously exploring the possibility of engagement with Israel.