Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman, said he sees Israel as a "potential ally" with shared interests, not an enemy - but that it must solve its conflict with the Palestinians first.

"We don't look at Israel as an enemy," the crown prince said during an interview with The Atlantic, the full text of which was published by the Saudi state news agency, SPA, on Thursday.
"We look to them as a potential ally, with many interests that we can pursue together. But we have to solve some issues before we get to that," the prince added.  
The statement marked a subtle shift from the official Saudi line, which has long held that Israel and Saudi Arabia could establish relations once it resolves its conflict with the Palestinians, but perhaps not a friendship. 
Yet despite the absence of official ties, Saudi Arabia agreed in 2020 to allow Israel-UAE flights to cross its territory. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's El Al Israel Airlines plane flew through Saudi airspace when he visited Abu Dhabi in December.
Speaking on normalisation deals with Israel that Persian Gulf countries Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) signed in 2020, bin Salman said each country had the right to do what it deemed useful. 
"Each country has independence to do whatever they want, based on their views, and they have a total right to do whatever they think that's useful for the UAE," MBS said, commenting on a recent visit by Israel's Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to Abu Dhabi. 
Saudi Arabia has long conditioned any eventual normalisation with Israel on resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and restoring Palestinian rights. 

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