'No concessions' to Palestinians in exchange for Saudi deal: Israeli minister

Jerusalem, Aug 29 (IANS) An Israeli minister said that the government will not agree to "any concessions" to the Palestinians as part of a possible normalisation deal with Saudi Arabia, as has been reportedly demanded by Riyadh and Washington.

"We will not make any concessions to the Palestinians. It's a fiction," Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told Israel's Army Radio on Monday.

Smotrich, who is the leader of the pro-settler Religious Zionist Party, said Israel is interested in establishing official ties with Saudi Arabia, but "it has nothing to do with Judea and Samaria", Xinhua news agency reported. 

Judea and Samaria is a frequently used Israeli term for the West Bank.

Smotrich's statement comes after both Saudi Arabia and the United States have underscored several times in recent months that a US-brokered agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia would necessitate positive developments toward a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the 56-year-old Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.