Kushner urges Saudi to normalise ties with Israel

DUBAI: US President Donald Trump's son-in-law and White House advisor Jared Kushner said Monday it would be in Saudi Arabia's interest to normalise ties with Israel as the United Arab Emirates has agreed to do.

It would also weaken their common foe Iran's influence in the region and ultimately help the Palestinians, Kushner told reporters during a telephone briefing.

"It would be very good for Saudi business, it would very good for Saudi's defence, and, quite frankly, I think it would also help the Palestinian people," Kushner said.

Saudi Arabia, the Arab world's biggest economy, has been silent on Trump's surprise announcement last Thursday that the UAE, a close US and Saudi ally, and Israel had decided to normalise relations.

In return, Israel agreed to suspend the annexation of occupied West Bank territories, although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the plan was not off the table in the long run.

Saudi King Salman and his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, had repeatedly expressed their desire for an independent Palestinian state with economic opportunities, Kushner said.

"What they basically said is that they ... want to see the Palestinian people have a state and economic opportunities," said Kushner, the architect of Trump's Middle East peace plan, which was wholly rejected by the Palestinians.

The landmark UAE-Israel deal is only the third such accord the Jewish state has struck with an Arab country, and raises the prospect of similar deals with other pro-Western Gulf states.

Trump said leaders from the two countries would sign the agreement at the White House in the coming weeks.