JERUSALEM, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- An Israeli minister said on Monday that the government will not agree to "any concessions" to the Palestinians as part of a possible normalization 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.

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." 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 U.S.-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. Enditem

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