The crown prince is interested in a normalization with Israel and his father likes the Arab Peace Initiative, but the war in Yemen and threats to Prince Mohammed at home are keeping them busy.
Don’t hold your breath for a normalization agreement with Saudi Arabia. Both Arab and Western pundits attribute the delay to a dispute between King Salman and his son, Crown Prince Mohammed, over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In a rare speech this week, Salman said Saudi Arabia still adheres to the Arab Peace Initiative, which conditions normalization on an Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 lines and the establishment of a Palestinian state. But the prince wants to speed up normalization as part of his strategic and, above all, economic vision.