Saudi Arabia has announced a significant investment of at least $600 billion in the United States over the course of the next several years. The commitment was made by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a phone call with President Donald Trump.

President Trump wants to broker normal ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel, but his proposal to transfer Palestinians out of Gaza just made that a lot harder.

The Saudi response was swift — 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.

President Donald Trump’s recent remarks about a possible US takeover of Gaza after relocating the Palestinians caused a wave of uproar across the region and the world.

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince sees an opportunity to get a defense, technology and nuclear cooperation deal but he will have to tread carefully given his young population has reawakened to the Palestinian cause amid the war in Gaza.