TEHRAN— In an interview with the Israeli newspaper Maariv on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan said that Israel's integration into the region would be beneficial not only for Israel but for the region as a whole.

The Saudi foreign minister added that his country will continue the peace process with Israel if the Palestinian issue is resolved fairly.

He noted that this situation would strengthen extremist movements in the region without resolving the deep-rooted problems of the Palestinian people and respecting their sovereignty.

In a mishmash of contradictory statements, the top Saudi diplomat said that the priority now is to find a solution so that the Israelis and Palestinians can sit together to pursue a peace process.

He also stressed that this will make things easier for all countries that do not yet have relations with Israel.

The Saudi foreign minister had previously stated that his country's commitment to the establishment of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders would remain a condition for the normalization of relations with Israel.

“This position has never been established,” Faisal bin Farhan told Al-Arabiya in response to a question about whether Saudi Arabia's position on the normalization of relations with Israel was still conditional on the formation of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders. 

He reiterated that Saudi Arabia’s position “will not change.”

He said that what is important now is the return of Palestinian relations with Israel in order to begin a real process that will lead to a comprehensive peace, during which the state of Palestine will be formed with the capital of East Jerusalem.

The Saudi foreign minister added that without such a path, the region would not see real peace and stability, stressing that this is a priority for Saudi Arabia.

The contradictory statements by top Saudi officials is surprising. Experts believe that the Saudis are trying to establish the lexis of normalization in their literature in order to prevent protests by the people. 

The experience of Bahrain and Sudan clearly indicate that the West Asian people reject any sort of normalization with the Israeli regime. But the governments are reluctant to hear their people’s voice. 

In a recent important interview, Hezbollah chief Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah said that the Palestinian people are committed to resistance despite the normalization deals.

“The main goal of normalization is to disappoint the Palestinian people and make them feel defeated,” he said, noting that the Zionist regime intends to dominate Palestine through normalization and move beyond a two-state solution. 

“If Israel thinks that through normalization it will be able to form a coalition against the axis of resistance, it is living in an illusion,” he elaborated.

According to the Hezbollah chief, the normalization of relations of some Arab countries with the Zionist regime is in Israel's financial interests. 

“If Israel establishes economic, diplomatic, and political relations with some Arab countries, it immediately begins to propagate that Arab countries sold Palestine. The goal is to disappoint the Palestinians from their resistance and surrender them.”

Nasrallah also underlined that the Palestinian people are committed to the resistance path despite the normalization deals, adding that the people in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE reject normalization.

These people cannot be silenced even with oppression and aggression. It’s high time Arab governments give a voice to their people.