Saudi Arabia will only normalize relations with Israel following a "just solution" to the Palestinian issue, Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud told Hebrew-language newspaper Maariv.
"The priority now needs to be on finding a path for the Israelis and Palestinians to sit together to work on a peace process," the senior official said while attending the Munich Security Conference.
"This will certainly ease the way for all other Arab countries that haven't yet reached relations with Israel. But for it to happen, the focus needs to be on the Palestinian issue and finding a just resolution to it."
His comments reiterate Riyadh's long-standing support of Palestinian sovereignty and more recent interest in establishing diplomatic ties with the Jewish state after the Palestinian issue is resolved.
Prince Faisal said that the lack of a political horizon between Israel and the Palestinians "emboldens the most extreme voices in the area."
Israel normalized ties with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in September 2020 in a U.S.-brokered pact known as the Abraham Accords, later adding Morocco and Sudan to the agreement. Such a move could not have materialized without the consent of Saudi Arabia which is regarded as the leader of the Arab and Muslim world.
The Biden administration and the U.S. Congress are working on expanding the Abraham Accords to include other Arab nations.
"The integration of Israel in the region will be a huge benefit not only for Israel itself but for the entire region," Prince Faisal told Maariv.