PM said to reject US plan for Saudi normalization in return for path to Palestinian statehood:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly rejected a proposal from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that would have seen Saudi Arabia normalize relations with Israel in exchange for Jerusalem agreeing to provide the Palestinians with a pathway toward statehood.

Netanyahu told Blinken during his visit to Israel last week that he wasn’t prepared to make a deal that allows for a Palestinian state, NBC News reported Wednesday, citing three unnamed senior US officials.

Blinken responded that Hamas cannot be removed through military means alone and that a failure by Israeli leaders to recognize this will lead to history repeating itself, a US official told The Times of Israel, confirming this detail from the report.

The top American diplomat came to Netanyahu with the proposal after he received commitments from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and four other Arab leaders to help fund the reconstruction of Gaza after the war and support the return of a reformed PA to the Strip, NBC news said.

Bin Salman also told Blinken he was prepared to normalize relations with Israel as part of rebuilding the Gaza Strip after the Israel-Hamas war, two US officials have told The Times of Israel, noting that he indeed is conditioning that deal on Israeli steps toward Palestinian sovereignty. However, the officials noted this condition falls well short of an expectation that Israel agree to the immediate establishment of a Palestinian state.

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