RIYADH – Saudi King Salman reaffirmed support for Palestinians to USPresident Donald Trump, state media said Tuesday, after his son and heirapparent said Israel has a “right” to a homeland.

The king “reaffirmed the kingdom’s steadfast position towards thePalestinian issue and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to anindependent state with Jerusalem as its capital,” the official Saudi PressAgency said.

The king also emphasised the need to advance the Middle East peace processin a phone call with Trump, which came after Israeli forces killed 17Palestinians last week during a demonstration on its border with Gaza.

Saudi Arabia and Israel have no formal diplomatic relations, but behind thescenes their ties appear to have improved in recent years against what theysee as a common Iranian threat.

Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians has long proved an obstacle to afull rapprochement, however, as Riyadh still supports the Palestinian claimto sovereignty.

But Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman indicated a notable shift in thekingdom’s position in an interview published Monday with US news magazineThe Atlantic.

The prince was asked by the magazine whether the “Jewish people have aright to a nation-state in at least part of their ancestral homeland?”

“I believe that each people, anywhere, has a right to live in theirpeaceful nation,” said the prince, who is on a three-week US tour.

“I believe the Palestinians and the Israelis have the right to have theirown land,” he added.

“But we have to have a peace agreement to assure the stability for everyoneand to have normal relations.”

Since 2002, Saudi Arabia has been the main sponsor of the Arab PeaceInitiative, which envisions a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinianconflict.

No senior Saudi official is known to have previously accepted that Israelhas a right to any land beyond the practical need to secure a lasting deal.- APP/AFP