The Saudi-Israeli Alliance
Riyadh is in a hurry to ‘legitimize’ its
burgeoning relationship with Israel, and silence
all critics
By Abdel Bari Atwan
July 07,
2017 "Information
Clearing House"
-
The evolving relationship between
Israel and Saudi Arabia is set to become a key
feature of regional politics in the forthcoming
phase. This goes beyond the creeping
normalization of relations between the two sides
and the holding of discreet contacts, to the
formation of an undeclared but far-reaching
alliance.
Retired Saudi general Anwar al-Eshki shed some
light on this in an interview last week on the
German TV channel Deutsche Welle, in which he
provided insights into a number of unexplained
issues: most importantly, why Saudi Arabia has
been so adamant about getting the Red Sea
islands of Tiran and Sanafir transferred from
Egypt’s sovereignty to its own as quickly a
possible.
The evolving relationship between Israel and
Saudi Arabia is set to become a key feature of
regional politics in the forthcoming phase. This
goes beyond the creeping normalization of
relations between the two sides and the holding
of discreet contacts, to the formation of an
undeclared but far-reaching alliance. Retired
Saudi general Anwar al-Eshki shed some light on
this in an interview last week on the German TV
channel Deutsche Welle, in which he provided
insights into a number of unexplained issues:
most importantly, why Saudi Arabia has been so
adamant about getting the Red Sea islands of
Tiran and Sanafir transferred from Egypt’s
sovereignty to its own as quickly a possible.
Eshki made clear that once Saudi Arabia assumes
sovereignty over the two islands, it will abide
by the Camp David Accords, and that the 1979
Egyptian-Israeli peace deal — which cut Egypt
off from the Arab world and the Palestinian
cause and led to the opening of an Israeli
embassy in Cairo – would cease to be a purely
bilateral agreement.
The general, who has been Saudi Arabia’s main
frontman in its normalization process with
Israel, explained that the new maritime border
demarcation agreement with Egypt places both
islands within the kingdom’s territorial waters.
Egypt and Saudi Arabia will therefore share
control over the Strait of Tiran through which
Israeli ships pass as they sail in and out of
the Gulf of Aqaba, and the kingdom will
accordingly establish a relationship with
Israel.
Eshki made clear that once Saudi Arabia assumes
sovereignty over the two islands, it will abide
by the Camp David Accords, and that the 1979
Egyptian-Israeli peace deal — which cut Egypt
off from the Arab world and the Palestinian
cause and led to the opening of an Israeli
embassy in Cairo – would cease to be a purely
bilateral agreement. The general, who has been
Saudi Arabia’s main frontman in its
normalization process with Israel, explained
that the new maritime border demarcation
agreement with Egypt places both islands within
the kingdom’s territorial waters. Egypt and
Saudi Arabia will therefore share control over
the Strait of Tiran through which Israeli ships
pass as they sail in and out of the Gulf of
Aqaba, and the kingdom will accordingly
establish a relationship with Israel.
True, Eshki also said that normalization of
Saudi relations with Israel was contingent on
the latter accepting the 2002 Arab Peace
Initiative. But he also spoke of an Israeli
peace initiative that would ‘bypass’ that plan.
According to him, this proposes the
establishment of a confederation that would
connect the occupied Palestinian territories –
he did not specify how or to whom – while
postponing discussion of the fate of Jerusalem.
Eshki also used the interview to confirm what
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has
often reiterated: that Saudi Arabia does not
consider Israel to be an enemy. He maintained
that this view is shared by ordinary Saudis, and
is reflected in their tweets and comments on
social media which they point out that Israel
never once attacked the kingdom so is not its
enemy, and that these citizens support
normalizing relations with Israel.
Eshki is not a policymaker but a mouthpiece. He
was carefully selected for the job of saying
what he is told and promoting it. To understand
what his words are aimed at achieving – and the
main features of the new normalization scheme
that is rapidly unfolding – we need only
paraphrase the statements made by the current
Israeli defence minister, Avigdor Lieberman:
Normalization between the Arab states and Israel
should be achieved first, and then followed by a
Palestinian-Israeli peace. Israel cannot accept
a situation in which normalization with the Arab
states is left hostage to a resolution of the
Palestinian issue. After all, Israel has signed
peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan without
ending the Palestinian conflict.
True, Eshki also said that normalization of
Saudi relations with Israel was contingent on
the latter accepting the 2002 Arab Peace
Initiative. But he also spoke of an Israeli
peace initiative that would ‘bypass’ that plan.
According to him, this proposes the
establishment of a confederation that would
connect the occupied Palestinian territories –
he did not specify how or to whom – while
postponing discussion of the fate of Jerusalem.
Eshki also used the interview to confirm what
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has
often reiterated: that Saudi Arabia does not
consider Israel to be an enemy. He maintained
that this view is shared by ordinary Saudis, and
is reflected in their tweets and comments on
social media which they point out that Israel
never once attacked the kingdom so is not its
enemy, and that these citizens support
normalizing relations with Israel. Eshki is not
a policymaker but a mouthpiece. He was carefully
selected for the job of saying what he is told
and promoting it. To understand what his words
are aimed at achieving – and the main features
of the new normalization scheme that is rapidly
unfolding – we need only paraphrase the
statements made by the current Israeli defence
minister, Avigdor Lieberman: Normalization
between the Arab states and Israel should be
achieved first, and then followed by a
Palestinian-Israeli peace. Israel cannot accept
a situation in which normalization with the Arab
states is left hostage to a resolution of the
Palestinian issue. After all, Israel has signed
peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan without
ending the Palestinian conflict.
The point that the handover of Tiran and Sanafir
would commit Saudi Arabia to the Camp David
accords, and to all obligations arising from
them, was also stressed by the head of the
Egyptian parliament’s Defence and National
Security Committee, Gen. Kamal Amer.
The conclusion that can be drawn is that the
main purpose of the rush to restore the two
islands to Saudi sovereignty is to accelerate
the pace of normalization between Israel and
Saudi Arabia and ‘legitimize’ their evolving
alliance. After all, Saudi Arabia possesses
countless thousands of neglected islands dotted
along its Red Sea and Gulf coastlines. It has no
need for two additional small, barren and
uninhabited outcrops. Even if it did, it managed
well enough without them for 50 years during
which they were either under Israeli occupation
or Egyptian protection. Had it wanted, it could
have waited and postponed this thorny issue for
ten, twenty, or a hundred more years, so as to
avoid embarrassing the Egyptian government and
angering the Egyptian people.
The Saudi government’s stage-setting for
normalization with the Israeli occupation state
is already well underway and gaining pace.
Following Eshki’s ‘academic’ visits to Israel
and former intelligence chief Prince Turki
al-Faisal’s security encounters, we have now
begun to see Saudi ‘analysts’ appearing on
Israeli TV. The next step may be for Saudi
ministers and princes to do the same.
The point that the handover of Tiran and Sanafir
would commit Saudi Arabia to the Camp David
accords, and to all obligations arising from
them, was also stressed by the head of the
Egyptian parliament’s Defence and National
Security Committee, Gen. Kamal Amer. The
conclusion that can be drawn is that the main
purpose of the rush to restore the two islands
to Saudi sovereignty is to accelerate the pace
of normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia
and ‘legitimize’ their evolving alliance. After
all, Saudi Arabia possesses countless thousands
of neglected islands dotted along its Red Sea
and Gulf coastlines. It has no need for two
additional small, barren and uninhabited
outcrops. Even if it did, it managed well enough
without them for 50 years during which they were
either under Israeli occupation or Egyptian
protection. Had it wanted, it could have waited
and postponed this thorny issue for ten, twenty,
or a hundred more years, so as to avoid
embarrassing the Egyptian government and
angering the Egyptian people. The Saudi
government’s stage-setting for normalization
with the Israeli occupation state is already
well underway and gaining pace. Following
Eshki’s ‘academic’ visits to Israel and former
intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal’s
security encounters, we have now begun to see
Saudi ‘analysts’ appearing on Israeli TV. The
next step may be for Saudi ministers and princes
to do the same.
The Saudi citizens who Eshki claimed were
tweeting their support for friendship with
Israel on the grounds that it has never attacked
their country, and who support normalizing
relations with it, are soldiers in the Saudi
electronic army. They number in the thousands,
and work under the auspices of Saudi
intelligence and police. The overwhelming
majority of Saudis are opposed to any form of
normalization with the occupation state, for
religious, Arab nationalist, patriotic, and
moral reasons. We have absolutely no doubt about
that. But we can understand the pressure they
are under when a single tweet expressing
sympathy for Qatar or criticism of ‘Vision 2030′
can cost the tweeter 15 years in prison or a
$250,000 fine.
According to Haaretz and other Israeli media
outlets, Crown Prince Muhammad bin-Salman, who
is leading the Saudi march towards normalization
and alliance with Israel, occupation state
visited occupied Jerusalem in 2015. He has also
holds regular meetings with Israeli officials,
most recently when during the Arab summit held
in Amman in March.
Not long ago Riyadh hosted the American
journalist Thomas Friedman. (Perhaps this was a
reward for his comment after the 9/11 attacks
that the US should have invaded Saudi Arabia –
the real source of terrorism — rather than Iraq
in retaliation.) Friedman met with a number of
officials before being granted a lengthy
audience with Muhammad bin-Salman. He reported
afterwards that not once during the five-hour
encounter did the prince utter the word
‘Palestine’ or mention the Arab-Israeli
conflict.
The Saudi citizens who Eshki claimed were
tweeting their support for friendship with
Israel on the grounds that it has never attacked
their country, and who support normalizing
relations with it, are soldiers in the Saudi
electronic army. They number in the thousands,
and work under the auspices of Saudi
intelligence and police. The overwhelming
majority of Saudis are opposed to any form of
normalization with the occupation state, for
religious, Arab nationalist, patriotic, and
moral reasons. We have absolutely no doubt about
that. But we can understand the pressure they
are under when a single tweet expressing
sympathy for Qatar or criticism of ‘Vision 2030′
can cost the tweeter 15 years in prison or a
$250,000 fine.
According to Haaretz and other Israeli media
outlets, Crown Prince Muhammad bin-Salman, who
is leading the Saudi march towards normalization
and alliance with Israel, occupation state
visited occupied Jerusalem in 2015. He has also
holds regular meetings with Israeli officials,
most recently when during the Arab summit held
in Amman in March.
Not long ago Riyadh hosted the American
journalist Thomas Friedman. (Perhaps this was a
reward for his comment after the 9/11 attacks
that the US should have invaded Saudi Arabia –
the real source of terrorism — rather than Iraq
in retaliation.) Friedman met with a number of
officials before being granted a lengthy
audience with Muhammad bin-Salman. He reported
afterwards that not once during the five-hour
encounter did the prince utter the word
‘Palestine’ or mention the Arab-Israeli
conflict.
Indeed, I challenge anyone to come up with a
single instance in which the up-and-coming Saudi
strongman refers to ‘Palestine’ in any of his
televised interviews.
Meanwhile, priority has been give to silencing
and countering Arab voices that confront this
evolving Saudi-Israeli alliance and expose its
aims, implications and likely consequences –
whether in the social or conventional media.
Riyadh’s demand for the closure of the
Al-Jazeera channel affirms that the war it is
currently waging is not against ‘terror’ but
against critical and free media.
We, too, have been and remain on the
receiving-end of that war, subject to a furious
on-going assault by the Saudi electronic army
and a vicious and deliberate campaign of
defamation. All one can say in response is to
quote the saying: the coward dies one hundred
times; the brave and free just once.
Indeed, I challenge anyone to come up with a
single instance in which the up-and-coming Saudi
strongman refers to ‘Palestine’ in any of his
televised interviews. Meanwhile, priority has
been give to silencing and countering Arab
voices that confront this evolving Saudi-Israeli
alliance and expose its aims, implications and
likely consequences – whether in the social or
conventional media. Riyadh’s demand for the
closure of the Al-Jazeera channel affirms that
the war it is currently waging is not against
‘terror’ but against critical and free media.
We, too, have been and remain on the
receiving-end of that war, subject to a furious
on-going assault by the Saudi electronic army
and a vicious and deliberate campaign of
defamation. All one can say in response is to
quote the saying: the coward dies one hundred
times; the brave and free just once.
Abdel Bari Atwan is the editor-in-chief of Rai
al-Youm, an Arab world digital news and opinion
website. He was the editor-in-chief of the
London-based pan-Arab newspaper Al Quds Al Arabi
from the founding of that paper in 1989 until
July 2013.
This
article was first published by
Raialyoum
-
The
views expressed in this article are solely those
of the author and do not necessarily reflect the
opinions of Information Clearing House.
|
Click for
Spanish,
German,
Dutch,
Danish,
French,
translation- Note-
Translation may take a
moment to load.
What's your response?
-
Scroll down to add / read comments
|
