Will Trump recognise Palestine at Riyadh Summit next week?
As Saudi Arabia prepares to host the Gulf-US summit in mid-May, anticipation crackles across the Middle East.
US President Donald Trump, revisiting Riyadh for the first time in his second term, has teased a “very important announcement,” sparking fevered speculation about whether he will declare US recognition of a Palestinian state, reports the Jerusalem Post quoting the Media Line.
The summit, echoing the high-stakes 2017 gathering that yielded $400 billion in deals, promises a whirlwind of economic, security, and technological agreements. But it’s the potential for a seismic shift in US-Palestinian policy that has diplomats, analysts, and onlookers riveted.
Trump’s cryptic remarks, made during a May 6 meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the White House, have fuelled the buzz.
A Gulf diplomatic source, speaking anonymously to The Media Line, claimed Trump will announce recognition of a Palestinian state – explicitly excluding Hamas from its governance.
“This would be the most important declaration to change the balance of power in the Middle East,” the source said, predicting it could spur more nations to join the Abraham Accords, the 2020 normalisation agreements between Israel and several Arab states.
If true, such a move would mark a dramatic pivot from Trump’s first term, when he championed pro-Israel policies like moving the US embassy to Jerusalem.
Yet, scepticism abounds. Ahmed Al-Ibrahim, a former Gulf diplomat, dismissed the Palestine rumour, noting the absence of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah II from the summit’s guest list.
“These are the two countries closest to Palestine,” he told The Media Line. “Their presence would be crucial for such an announcement.”
Instead, Al-Ibrahim pointed to economic blockbuster deals as the likely centrepiece, akin to 2017’s $400 billion Saudi agreements and recent pledges of $600 billion from Saudi Arabia and $1 trillion from the UAE for US investments. Trump’s planned visits to the UAE and Qatar post-summit, he added, underscore the focus on Gulf economies flush with cash and ambition.
Saudi political analyst Ahmed Boushouki echoed this, suggesting Trump’s hint to “buy stocks now” before his announcement signals massive economic pacts, not a Palestinian breakthrough. “This is about major deals in Saudi Arabia,” he told The Media Line, citing technology, AI, and military contracts. Boushouki also highlighted US-Saudi nuclear cooperation, with plans for Saudi Arabia’s first reactor underway since 2010, as a key agenda item.
The UAE’s Barakah nuclear plant, operated with Korean partners, serves as a regional model, and Saudi Arabia aims to follow suit with international firms vying for contracts.
The summit, hosted in Riyadh, will see all Gulf Cooperation Council leaders – save Saudi Arabia’s ailing King Salman bin Abdulaziz, absent due to health issues—convening with Trump.
The agenda brims with promise: tariff exemptions for Gulf states, AI collaborations, and security pacts. But the Palestinian question looms large, especially after Saudi Arabia’s February 2025 insistence on Palestinian statehood as a prerequisite for normalising ties with Israel, contradicting Trump’s earlier claim that Riyadh had softened this stance.