At the White House on Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters the U.S. should ¡°take over¡± and redevelop the Gaza Strip, with the help of Saudi Arabia, and Benjamin Netanyahu said he believes a peace deal between the oil-rich kingdom and Israel is ¡°going to happen.¡±

The Saudi response was swift ¡ª reiterating Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman¡¯s demands for an independent Palestinian state as part of any normalization agreement and rejecting the ¡°infringement on the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people¡± or ¡°attempts to displace¡± them from their land.

Trump has signaled that a grand Middle East bargain is a top foreign-policy priority, and MBS, as Saudi Arabia¡¯s de facto leader is known, sees the deal as an opportunity to get what he wants ¡ª namely a defense, technology and nuclear cooperation agreement with the U.S., according to people familiar with the situation.