TEHRAN – Israel reiterated its refusal to allow a Palestinian state, insisting that “even if” ties with Saudi Arabia are normalized, statehood remains off-limits. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared in a November 20 interview that it “is not on the table for me.”

The prime minister declared that Palestinian statehood represents an “existential threat,” saying: “There will not be a Palestinian state. It’s very simple: it will not be established.”

He is not the only voice in Israel hardening his stance. War Minister Israel Katz has declared publicly that “Israel will not allow a Palestinian state.”

Other senior officials, including Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, have repeatedly characterized a two-state outcome as an existential threat, a suicidal move, or the creation of a “Palestinian terror state.”

This coordinated rejection reflects a government policy accelerating settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, displacing Palestinian families and rendering any future state geographically impossible—moves condemned by rights groups as deliberate fragmentation of Palestinian land.

At the diplomatic level, Riyadh has tried to place Palestinian statehood at the center of any Abraham Accords expansion.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told U.S. leaders on November 18 that the kingdom seeks to join the Abraham Accords only if there is a “clear path toward a Palestinian state.”

But the Trump administration’s push for security guarantees, arms sales, and massive investment packages presents incentives that risk making Palestinian rights negotiable in practice.

Israel's refusal exposes the hollowness of normalization pursuits: they risk legitimizing occupation and ongoing dispossession while offering Riyadh security gains at the expense of justice.

By pushing Saudi Arabia toward recognizing Israel without addressing core grievances, Washington may ignite deeper turmoil across the region and widen rifts in the Arab and Muslim world.

For many, normalization efforts amount to turning a blind eye to Israel’s relentless regional aggression and the mounting human tragedy since October 2023: more than 69,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza, thousands more in the West Bank, 3,800 in Lebanon, over 1,060 in Iran, and many others in Yemen and Syria.

Normalization, in practice, risks becoming a diplomatic trophy for those entrenching occupation rather than a mechanism to end it. Analysts warn this approach renders Palestinian self-determination expendable, perpetuating violence as settlements expand unchecked and Gaza remains under de facto control.

As international support for Palestine grows, Israel’s isolation deepens — underscoring that genuine stability will come only through reversing occupation and securing binding guarantees of Palestinian sovereignty and rights.