President Donald Trump has repeatedly said his stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is flexible and transactional. Rather than endorsing either a one-state or two-state solution, he has said he will support whatever arrangement both Israelis and Palestinians agree upon.
As AFN recently reported, Trump also said a U.S.-Saudi civilian nuclear agreement is contingent on the kingdom normalizing relations with Israel through the Abraham Accords.
The Saudis, however, have previously made clear that normalizing relations with Israel would first require the establishment of a clear path toward Palestinian statehood.
When the nuclear deal was announced Wednesday, neither the U.S. Energy Department nor the Saudi government mentioned any requirement tying the agreement to Saudi Arabia's relationship with Israel.
Trump later said the agreement "will be approved, but is totally subject to Saudi Arabia joining the very respected and successful Abraham Accords." He added that the U.S. "is not opposed to civil (Non-Enriched) nuclear facilities."
Trump also said the pact does not allow for uranium enrichment. However, nonproliferation experts have raised concerns that the agreement lacks sufficient guardrails to prevent uranium from being enriched to weapons-grade levels.
"We can't trust the Saudis; we should not trust the Saudis. It's dangerous to give them nukes," insists Jihad Watch Director Robert Spencer, who notes that Saudi Arabia has consistently maintained it will join the Abraham Accords only if a Palestinian state is established.
Many Western leaders continue to describe a Palestinian state as the so-called two-state solution, "but it's actually no solution at all," Spencer says.
"The Palestinian state, if it were established, would never live side-by-side in peace with Israel, which is what the politicians always say."
Saudi Arabia is a Muslim country whose laws and governance are deeply rooted in Islamic Sharia law.
