CNN said that Saudi Arabia indicates that recognition of Israel may be on the table, but at a “higher price,” after previously saying that it was close to normalizing diplomatic relations with Israel.

During his tour of the Middle East last week, which included Saudi Arabia and Israel, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that normalization talks are continuing and “there is a clear interest in the region in pursuing this.”

“With regard to integration and normalization, yes, we actually talked about that at every stop, including of course here in Saudi Arabia,” Blinken told reporters in Saudi Arabia before heading to Israel.

In an interview with the BBC last Tuesday, the Saudi ambassador to the United Kingdom, Prince Khaled bin Bandar Al Saud, said that “there is certainly interest” in normalizing relations, adding: “There has been interest since 1982.”

According to experts, the price that Saudi Arabia will demand in exchange for normalization will be higher now than it was before the Gaza War, as Riyadh may feel forced to extract more concessions from the United States and Israel.

The Saudi writer and analyst, Ali Al-Shihabi, told the American network that the Saudi government remains “open to normalization on the condition that Israel takes concrete steps on the ground to lay the foundations for a two-state solution.”

Al-Shihabi pointed out that the steps must be “concrete promises, not empty promises that Israel can forget after normalization, as it did with other countries with which it normalized,” stressing that his country’s government “is not interested in embellishment.”

He believed that the normalization agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel is “the only card that the United States or anyone else has with Israel to encourage it to make concessions,” adding: “The Kingdom is aware of this and wants to try to push for a final settlement of this conflict.”

Source: CNN