Normalization Between Saudi Arabia, Israel and the Palestinian Issue

First of all, it must be acknowledged that the issue of normalizing relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia is one of the most prominent topics that head the media these days.

It must be noted that the relentless American efforts to reach an agreement to normalize relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel come in the context of US President Joe Biden's readiness to fight the US presidential elections that will be held in November of next year.

The president, who is criticized for making many mistakes in the names of people and places when speaking, stumbling in walking, and old age, is looking for reasons that give him the opportunity to outperform his Republican rival, who all evidence indicates that he will be former President Donald Trump, despite the cases brought against him and attempts to implicate him on criminal charges that prevent him from reaching to the White House.

It seems that Biden is looking forward to achieving an impressive breakthrough in terms of US foreign policy, before the Republican Party conference convenes next March to choose the Republican candidate who will compete with Biden, which is to return the Middle East region, at the heart of which is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, to the track of political negotiations, while achieving a practical breakthrough on the ground. A new road map that gains the support of members of Congress from both parties constitutes at the same time an obstacle to Chinese efforts to be present on the Saudi and regional arena, in addition to the decline in the Russian role due to Russia's preoccupation with its war in Ukraine.

It must be noted that the majority of members of Congress from both the Democratic and Republican parties will not support any proposals or steps taken by Biden unless they receive the green light from Israel, and therefore any American proposals to settle the conflict must be dealt with extreme caution so as not to be at the expense of rights and interests. patriotism of the Palestinian people.

There is no doubt that there is an American-Israeli interest in achieving the desired normalization that stems from external political considerations that contradict and even collide with internal Israeli considerations that have the ability to make or break the American initiative.

Escalating American normalization steps

It is noticeable that the American step towards the normalization of Saudi-Israeli relations constitutes an escalation in American diplomatic activity in the region and a qualitative and broad step forward. It comes after the Aqaba-Sharm al-Sheikh axis, which seeks to enhance security cooperation between the authority and Israel and achieve security calm in the West Bank, and after the Negev Forum axis, which includes Egypt, Morocco and the UAE in addition to America and Israel, and the so-called Abraham Accords to expand the space of normalization between the countries of the region and Israel. There is no doubt that the strategic goal of all of this is to reformulate regional relations in the region in favor of America and Israel.

The question remains: Where does the Palestinian leadership stand regarding the American move, and to what extent can it rely on the Saudi position in protecting Palestinian national rights, and to what extent can it influence that position? Will Saudi Arabia even allow the Palestinian side to interfere in its policies and decisions, even if they are related to Palestinian rights and interests? The margin in which the Palestinian leadership can move is a limited margin that does not exceed promises to continue the policy of controlling matters in the domestic arena and achieving the maximum level of calm by stopping the resistance operations that Israel and America claim that Iran is behind it and is holding its strings and moving it, and it is an accusation that falls in the hearts of the Saudis. Which deals with utmost suspicion with any action in which Iran has fingers.

Saudi Arabia between its security interests and its national obligations

Despite the limited Palestinian ability to influence the Saudi political decision regarding normalization with Israel, which will have fateful consequences for the Palestinian cause and the national rights of the Palestinian people, it is possible to exclude any Saudi neglect of our rights, whether given the historical role of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which stood by the Palestinian people and sent its soldiers to fight He was with him in the past, and she was the owner of the Arab Peace Initiative that King Abdullah presented to the Beirut Summit in 2002 and became the cornerstone of the Saudi position on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the ways to end it. Not to mention that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, led by Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi Crown Prince, today enjoys an advanced position on the regional and international arenas, after it proved, following the outbreak of the Ukrainian war, that it is not subject to American dictates and developed its international relations with China and Russia and opened a channel of communication and dialogue with Iran that strengthened the Kingdom's regional role. . Taking all of the above into account, Saudi Arabia has the right to take care of its interests and to act guided by these interests within the framework of the national principles that it has always demonstrated its keenness on and commitment to. Saudi Arabia has the right to seek to ensure its own security by seeking to obtain highly advanced weapons and defense systems that guarantee it military superiority in the region, and seeks to sign a joint defense agreement with America that would deter any Iranian ambitions towards Saudi Arabia, and to build a nuclear reactor for peaceful purposes. While making sure that this reactor is not subject to any external domination, represented by linking it to refueling with another country, as is the case with the UAE and Egypt, for example, and preventing it from self-enriching the nuclear fuel needed by that reactor, but it refused that and insists that uranium be self-enriched, like Iran.

There is no doubt that achieving these Saudi demands is not an easy matter, as Israel and its supporters in America will work to ensure that any Saudi military superiority remains below the level of Israeli superiority and hegemony in the region, just as signing a joint defense agreement with America requires special approval from the Congress, which is controlled by supporters of Israel. Those who might work to obstruct it, not to mention the violent Israeli opposition against enabling Saudi Arabia to self-enrich uranium technology on the pretext that this could bring it closer to nuclear capacity and that at the same time it would open the door to the nuclear race in the region. In sum, Saudi Arabia is still facing some difficulties in obtaining what it wants in exchange for normalization, which are not impossible to overcome.

Proposals related to the Palestinian issue
Nevertheless, what is leaking news through the media indicates that there are American efforts and temptations related to the Palestinian cause to push Saudi Arabia towards normalization with Israel, and these efforts range from promises to showy steps such as announcing America's commitment to the two-state solution, recognition of the Palestinian people's right to self-determination, and the opening of an American consulate in East Jerusalem. Re-opening the Palestinian representation (embassy) in Washington and agreeing to change the status of the Palestinian representative in the United Nations. And economic inducements such as facilitating clearance money transfers, allowing the development and exploitation of the gas field in Gaza, and reviewing the Paris Economic Agreement.

There is a Saudi demand that Israel pledge to freeze settlements, stop annexing parts of the occupied lands, not establish new settlement outposts, stop incursions into Area A, and transfer parts from Area C to B and from B to A, while America is talking about a new road map and an interim agreement that leads to a negotiating process leading to a two-state solution, within which an air and sea port will be established in the Strip.

Whether this news is true or accurate or not, the main obstacle to any breakthrough lies in what might happen in the Israeli domestic arena, which is dominated by the fascist extreme right, which will work to thwart any such plan. And we, as Palestinians, must continue to work shoulder to shoulder with our Saudi brothers and accelerate the steps towards achieving unity and reconciling the resistance program with the political program and ending the division in order to be able to speak with one voice and one will if we are faced with the moment of making a fateful decision, although the chances of that are almost non-existent.