Israeli president says normalization with Saudi Arabia key to ending wars

JERUSALEM

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said Thursday that normalizing Israel’s relations with Saudi Arabia will be a key element to ending wars.

Addressing the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Herzog said Tel Aviv "lost trust in peace processes, because they see that terror is glorified by our neighbors."

"If you ask an average Israeli now about his or her mental state, nobody in his right mind is willing now to think about what will be the solution of the peace agreements," he added in statements cited by The Times of Israel newspaper.

The Israeli president said that the destruction of Hamas will "enable a better future for the Palestinians who are our neighbors."

US-sponsored peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel collapsed in 2014 over Israel’s refusal to halt settlement building in the occupied West Bank.

Several reports emerged about a possible normalization of ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia before the outbreak of the Gaza conflict on Oct. 7.

On Wednesday, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan told the Davos forum that Israel can't enjoy peace without the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Israel has launched relentless air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas, which Tel Aviv says killed around 1,200 people.

At least 24,620 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and 61,830 others injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure was damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar