'I don't believe the Iranians want a broader war': Saudi foreign minister • FRANCE 24 English

hello and welcome to the France 24 interview we're in Munich on the sidelines of the Munich security conference and our guest today is Saudi Arabia's foreign minister Prince fesal bin faran Alo thank you very much for being with us thank you for having me I'll begin very obviously sadly I should say about the situation in Gaza especially in Rafa uh the humanitarian situation is very dire what are Israel's intentions do you think they want to push Palestinians out of Gaza and possibly into Egypt I have no idea what Israel's intentions are but what I can tell you is that we already have a humanitarian catastrophe on our hands with what has happened in Gazza the level of Civilian death and destruction is unimaginable 177,000 orphans 30,000 or more civilian Deads and most importantly levels of starvation and uh other humanitarian need because of the lack of access to humanitarian Goods is causing uh a compound of this humanitarian catastrophe and now with the Potential Prospect of uh military oper ra operations at Raf the last Safe Haven let's say in the South and uh uh without any clear uh mechanisms to protect the civilians this is completely unacceptable obviously we have said from the beginning that we need a ceasefire and we need a ceasefire now more than ever uh and uh uh with that ceasefire even before that ceasefire we must absolutely address the issue of humanitarian ACC exess it's not acceptable that less than 100 trucks uh a day are getting into Gaza when the United Nations and other humanitarian agencies tell us that at least 500 trucks are necessary and you know we have been told uh time and again that Israel has committed to allowing the necessary access for humanitarian uh Supply but it has not materialized it has not happened and this is compounding as I said this uh terrible tragedy and you know the level of Civilian uh suffering and this is a clear contention of international humanitarian law and uh it is absolutely critical for the maintenance of The credibility of the International System that we ensure that this humanitarian access is now opened and that we prevent any further uh suffering of the people of Gaza you've had many discussions with the US Administration about this uh crisis the US is not calling for a ceasefire why they have their opinions but uh I think they understand the gravity of situation and I certainly uh believe that they must see it they are the uh country with the capacity to understand the situation the most and it's quite clear to all of us the level of humanitarian suffing and in our discussions with them uh it I I at least ascertain that they do understand the criticality of the situation uh we hope that the International Community including the US will take a clear St on a ceasefire uh and on humanitarian access we have worked with the us to try and address that issue and uh uh we will continue to do so but it's absolutely necessary in order to maintain credibility of the International System that we now find a pathway to stopping this fighting and getting the necessary relief to the civilians of Gaza isn't Hamas to blame for this look uh the civilian suffering that is happening now is a result of the ongoing conflict there is no doubt this conflict started on October 7th but we have a choice about to uh where to begin and where to end and we need to end this conflict now should Hamas be part of a solution or not Israel obviously doesn't want to hear this yeah I mean again the solution right now that we have to talk to about is how we protect the civilians of Raza uh and that is in the hands of the uh International Community it's in the hands of Israel it is in the hands of uh uh all of us to allow humanitarian access in to force humanitarian access in and to stop the fighting what happens in razza afterwards is something that needs a discussion in all you know among all parties but the priority does need to be relieving the humanitarian suffering that we see now and abating this humanitarian catastrophe would Saudi Arabia be ready to be part of the day after you just mentioned in terms of maybe sending forces if there needs to be a transition towards a new Palestinian leadership there are you ready to send boots on the ground and not only money and humanitarian uh We've made quite clear that we're only interested not just as Saudi Arabia but as all of the countries of the Arab world in discussing a day after in the context of addressing the wider Palestinian issue and we continue to do that and if we address that then the issue of how Gaza is managed becomes uh much easier to address uh you have the Palestinian Authority who is quite capable uh with the support of the International Community to take control of all of the Palestinian territory uh but that needs uh a to a a real Pathway to a Palestinian State and hope for the Palestinian people you're saying the Palestinian authorities uh capable many people starting with many Palestinians back to defer the US talks about Revitalize Palestinian Authority is this a pie in the sky or something realistic if you talk to the Palestinian Authority themselves they acknowledge that they need a strong uh reform process to re uh establish or reinvigorate their uh uh oper new leadership I mean that's up to the Palestinians to decide but what I will argue is that the Palestinian Authority has shown themselves incredibly capable and credible when it comes to the issues of maintaining Security in the West Bank we see quite clearly today that the Palestinian Authority is able to maintain security under the most difficult situation you know a lack of funding including the withholding of funds that are due to them by Israel uh A continuing uh illegal settlement activity and continuing provocations by extremist settlers in the West Bank nonetheless the Palestinian Authority is able to maintain an acceptable level of security what does this tell us this tells us that the Palestinian Authority is capable of maintaining security could it do better for the interest of the Palestinian people sure and they acknowledge this and they are ready uh uh for this process but again this needs to be in the context of real hope of real future otherwise uh you know we are all constrained what about recognition of a Palestinian State uh we're hearing more and more Western countries mention it uh the UK France as something that's could be tangible for you is this a condition or is it just merely a symbol for France the UK maybe even the US to say we recognize a Palestinian State even if there's no such State well I would argue there is a Palestinian state it is uh on the ground we already recognize that state it has it does exist it it exists but it has constraints because it has not yet demarcated its borders with Israel and of of course that is a critical point nonetheless uh we all agree and if you one of the things that is quite heartening is that when I hear when I talk to uh our partners International Community with one voice they all agree that the pathway to stability in our region in the Palestine and by the way for security for Israel is towards a Palestinian State and that a Palestinian state is absolutely necessary and the fact that several countries now in Europe uh in the west including potentially the US are willing to discuss the issue of recognition of Palestine uh even before the final status uh issues are negotiated is a clear signal that uh that conviction that the Palestinian state is absolutely necessary because it is the right of the Palestinians to have self-determination uh is very positive and it's something that we would encourage uh the US keeps saying that the normalization process between your country and Israel is still pretty much on track is that so given uh what is happening are you still in the process of normalizing relations with Israel despite the fact that its prime minister clearly doesn't indicate any willingness to recognize and even establish a Palestinian State we've been clear we've been clear with our public statements and we've been clear recently with a statement issued from the for and we've been clear with our American friends that a pathway towards recognition requires two things it requires an end to the fighting in Gazza and a withdrawal of all Israeli forces and a pathway to and a Palestinian State without that we are not able to even consider uh this issue and again it's something that everybody agrees on and more than anything it is in the interest of Israel to uh be open to working together with their neighbors uh and that can only happen through a Palestinian State I I want to clarify this because as you said there have been differing reports is a political commitment by Israel to recognize a Palestinian State enough for normalization with Israel that in itself is a prerequisite but it's not enough because we need to have a clear pathway towards establishing that Palestinian state it can't just be a political commitment so you're you're not requesting the establishment of a Palestinian State as a precondition you need you said we need a firm commitment from my perspective the Palestinian State already exists what now has to come into play is a recognition of that Palestinian State and a definition of its borders these are things that need to be clearly defined and understood and that's what we require are you concerned about Regional War obviously we're seeing what's happening in Lebanon in the Red Sea and there are tensions between uh the West Iran and its so-called proxies uh you are now talking regularly with the Iranians which is fairly new uh are you concerned uh that there could be such a regional War and what are the Iranians telling you yeah obviously we are concerned I mean you know regional conflict is uh something that we want to avoid very much this is why uh we have uh engaged uh in diplomacy throughout the region uh but of course the longer the conflict in Gaza goes on the more danger there is for miscalculation the more danger there is for escalation so we must avoid that at all costs uh we of course talk to our neighbors in Iran and we have that same message that escalation must be avoided in any instance what do they tell you because we've seen I mentioned Yemen the Red Sea Iraq is another example uh what are they telling you that they don't want such a war or that they want to take revenge because of what's happened I I don't believe that the Iranians want a broader war that that is not not what I feel uh in Yemen obviously uh one of the consequences of the war in Gaza we've seen the houis uh you fought the htis for a long long time uh they're striking vessels uh Saudi Arabia says you know we don't want to retaliate uh there have been negotiations about reaching a deal in Yemen is this in Jeopardy because of the hoodis action the Western reaction that this uh peace or kind of Peace offer in Yemen is now off the table it's certainly not off the table we remain absolutely committed to the road map that the United Nations has uh uh adopted and we are ready to sign it at the earliest opportunity we have uh uh I believe uh reached the point where this is close to being completed and we are going to continue on the path of uh peace in Yemen and I think uh from our perspective that is important to protect so just to clarify you're saying we're very close to peace deal between you and the houis between the government of Yemen and the houthis and we would support that yes thank you very much uh Mr foreign minister of Saudi Arabia for uh your time and thank you all for watching this Edition here from Munich on France 24

Channel: FRANCE 24 English

Views: 117,095

Keywords: Gaza Strip, Houthi rebels, Iran, Israel-Hamas war, Not Specified, Saudi Arabia, france24, news

Id: s9KtLYaYqCY

Length: 12min 21sec (741 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 19 2024