No Israel Without Palestine

Описание: Pakistan’s former UN ambassador Munir Akram said Saudi Arabia’s reluctance to join the US-backed Abraham Accords without clear movement toward a two-state solution is a “real position,” driven by hardened Arab public opinion after the Gaza war. In an interview, he said Riyadh would only consider normalization once Israel accepted the principle of Palestinian statehood and took concrete steps toward it, adding that the current environment made such progress unlikely. Akram said Saudi Arabia’s refusal to commit funds for Gaza reconstruction reflected conditions on the ground, with Israel still occupying parts of the enclave and no agreed post-war governance structure in place.

Akram described the Trump–MBS summit as a restoration of a long-standing strategic partnership rather than an attempt by Riyadh to buy political influence, arguing that Saudi Arabia was now operating in a “multipolar world” where it balances ties with the United States, China, Russia and others. He rejected criticism that the visit produced a one-sided deal in Saudi Arabia’s favour, saying Washington sees Riyadh as central to regional energy, defence and technology interests. On Pakistan, Akram said Islamabad should maintain its principled stance on Palestine while deepening economic and defence cooperation with Saudi Arabia, managing ties with Iran, and navigating what he called a “new Middle East” in which Israel, rather than Iran, has emerged as the region’s most destabilising actor.