President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, second from right, at the inauguration ceremony of the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 21, 2017. (Bandar Algaloud/Saudi Royal Council/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

(JTA) — Within minutes of Donald Trump’s meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Saudi Arabia threw cold water on one of the U.S. president’s pronouncements.

On Tuesday evening, when asked whether Saudi leaders were demanding the establishment of a Palestinian state in exchange for a treaty with Israel, Trump said they were not. “Everybody’s demanding one thing, you know what it is? Peace,” he said.

Saudi Arabia responded quickly: No, it had not not yielded on demanding the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, with east Jerusalem as its capital, as a condition of normalization with Israel, the kingdom’s foreign ministry announced in a statement.

“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia emphasizes that this unwavering position is non-negotiable and not subject to compromises,” the statement said. Saudi Arabia also noted that it would object to any efforts to displace Palestinians, an idea Trump has repeatedly insisted on in recent days.

The firm statement illustrates the gap between Saudi Arabia and Trump, who made a series of shocking pronouncements on Tuesday, including that Gaza should be completely depopulated and then taken over by the United States. Those proposals fly in the face of the longtime Saudi demand for a Palestinian state in exchange for relations with Israel.

Trump is understood to view a deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia as a major goal of his foreign policy. Netanyahu has repeatedly touted the prospects of Saudi-Israeli normalization as well.

The president, who considers himself a master negotiator and frequently makes unprecedented demands that change the terms of debate, helped Israel ink deals with four Arab countries during his first term.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’re in the middle of our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we have a very ambitious goal of $127,000 by April 21.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Make a Passover Gift Today!

$90 $180

$360

Other amount