Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reportedly expressed a lack of personal concern for the Palestinian issue during a conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, according to a recent report by The Atlantic magazine.

The publication detailed 11 months of U.S. diplomatic efforts in the Middle East following the Gaza conflict, citing high-level officials from both the U.S. and the region.

In January, during a meeting in Al-Ula, Blinken and the crown prince discussed the potential for normalizing relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. The ongoing Israeli war on Gaza was a key point in the talks.

Mohammed bin Salman, often referred to as MBS, expressed his main concern: maintaining calm in Gaza. 

“What do you need from Israel?” Blinken asked during the discussion.

In response, MBS emphasized the need for stability in Gaza but indicated flexibility regarding future Israeli military actions. Blinken asked if the Saudis could tolerate Israel periodically reentering the territory to conduct counterterrorism raids.

“They can come back in six months, a year, but not on the back end of my signing something like this,” the crown prince said.

The report also highlighted MBS’s reflection on the generational gap in Saudi Arabia concerning the Palestinian cause.

“Seventy percent of my population is younger than me,” MBS said. “For most of them, they never really knew much about the Palestinian issue. And so they’re being introduced to it for the first time through this conflict. It’s a huge problem. Do I care personally about the Palestinian issue? I don’t, but my people do, so I need to make sure this is meaningful.”

Despite his expressed detachment, MBS acknowledged the potential personal risks involved in pursuing a peace agreement with Israel. He referenced the assassination of former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, who was killed after signing a peace deal with Israel, as a cautionary example.

“Half my advisers say that the deal is not worth the risk,” he confided to Blinken. “I could end up getting killed because of this deal.”

The Atlantic mentioned that a Saudi official has disputed the account presented by the magazine, calling it "incorrect."