Our responsibility is to keep the Palestinian issue a cornerstone of Arab politics

The main issue at the forefront of the situation in the Middle East has become centered on the American efforts made towards the possibilities of normalizing relations between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Israel, and this comes within the framework of the Biden administration’s need for an achievement that might keep him in the White House. In the context of these efforts, there is talk about the status of the Palestinian issue in Saudi policy regarding its regional role and its conditions regarding the requirements of normalization that have become declared.

The Financial Time newspaper revealed that Saudi Arabia is seeking concessions from the United States, including security guarantees, support for a civilian nuclear program, and obtaining weapons, in exchange for normalizing relations with “Israel.” The American newspaper also quoted Saudi officials that the Kingdom will also need a major positive step from Israel towards the Palestinians, although they did not clarify what this would entail. According to what the BBC reported from the Financial Times.

Thomas Friedman, a columnist for The New York Times, wrote after his meeting with Biden, “Saudi demands from Israel could include a halt to settlement expansion and a pledge not to annex the occupied West Bank.”

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in his famous interview with Fox News, confirmed that negotiations on this matter are progressing daily, and the question is what progress is being made regarding Saudi Arabia’s demands from the United States to achieve normalization. Israel, which sees this normalization as its most important historical achievement after the establishment of Israel and the Palestinian Nakba in 1948, announced through its National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi, in response to a question about possible Israeli concessions, Hanegbi said, “Israel will not accept anything that undermines its security.”

But he said: "His country will not worry about the possibility of Saudi Arabia developing civilian nuclear capabilities." This is a clear indication that Israel is not only proceeding with the plan of resolution and annexation, which Netanyahu confirmed in his speech before the United Nations General Assembly by highlighting the map of Palestine as the complete map of Israel since 1948, but also that Hanegbi’s speech carries within it Israeli reservations about providing Saudi Arabia has advanced weapons, including F35 aircraft, which Saudi Arabia seeks to acquire from the United States.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the owner of the Arab Peace Initiative, and the question is to what extent can the Saudi leadership remain committed to this initiative? Which was reaffirmed by its Foreign Minister before the United Nations General Assembly, as well as the Saudi Ambassador when presenting his credentials to the Palestinian President in Ramallah, and how can the Palestinian leadership be of assistance to it in this? Can Saudi diplomacy achieve any breakthrough at this level, especially under the racist, fascist government led by the “Netanyahu - Smotrich - Ben Gvir” trio?

The Biden administration, which is leading the normalization negotiations, announces at every opportunity its rejection of settlements and the annexation plan, but until this moment it has not been able to force Israel to stop them. Rather, they are expanding daily. It is true that the United States is the only country capable of putting an end to the policy of settlement expansion, which indicates that it has not yet used its weight to achieve this, or that it is also no longer able to oblige Israel to do so.

The most important question remains: How will the Palestinian leadership behave in this rolling process? It is clear that the position of the Palestinian leadership at the Arab and international levels, as well as at the internal level, where the popular division and isolation it suffers from, is too weak to be an influential player in the trends of the ongoing negotiations, despite the Saudi leadership showing keenness to coordinate its position regarding the Palestinian component in the normalization negotiations. led by the United States. The Palestinian leadership’s admission that it does not expect the possibility of obtaining Israeli recognition of a Palestinian state in light of the current conditions constitutes a dangerous indicator that exempts the racist annexation government from the essence of dealing with the Arab Peace Initiative, which has become a component of international legitimacy resolutions, and is based on the equation of recognition and normalization in exchange for complete withdrawal from... The occupied Palestinian and Arab territories, enabling the Palestinians to establish their independent, sovereign state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, and reaching a just solution to the refugee issue in accordance with Resolution 194.

It is true that the Palestinian leadership is not in a position to conflict with Saudi interests, and this is not required, at least in light of the results of its behavior from previous normalization agreements, but certainly the justification for the survival of the Palestinian leadership is the claim that it is the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people and their just cause, which requires it not to compromise in its relations. With various countries of the world about the supreme national interests of the Palestinian people and their legitimate rights as defined by international legitimacy, foremost of which is their right to end the occupation and exercise their right to self-determination, and I believe that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will respect this position out of its concern for the Palestinian issue and its Arab and Islamic status.

It is self-evident that the ability of the Palestinian leadership to adhere to this position imposes on it entitlements that have become known to everyone far and wide, foremost of which is restoring unity and mobilizing the ability of the Palestinian people to reject and confront Israel’s plans to liquidate their cause and their inalienable rights. Any delay in achieving this puts the Palestinian leadership in a position of historical responsibility for the possibility of Israel succeeding in achieving its plans, and opening its appetite for progress towards trying to liquidate Palestinian rights. This is on the strategic level, but on the tactical level and to reveal Israel’s true intentions, dozens of Palestinian demands can be highlighted in addition to strict adherence to a comprehensive cessation of settlement and the Judaization of Jerusalem, including, among other issues, obligating Israel to have the right of Jerusalemites to participate in the elections, as happened three previous times, and returning Opening the Orient House and the rest of the Palestinian institutions in Jerusalem, and opening the safe passage between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, in confirmation of adherence to the unity of the Palestinian entity and the establishment of a Palestinian state with occupied Jerusalem as its capital on the 1967 borders, and stopping the invasions of Palestinian cities and towns and committing murders at the hands of the army and settlers, and releasing prisoners and abolishing restrictions. The Israeli government must pay the National Authority their dues, that is, remove Israel’s attempts to brand their struggle as terrorism, stop pirating clearing funds under this pretext or another, restore the Palestinian police on the Palestinian side of the King Hussein Bridge crossing, and reconsider the unfair Paris Agreement, in a way that responds to the needs of building and developing the economy. The Palestinian national, and before that, the acceptance of Israel and the United States to hold an international peace conference on the basis of commitment to the resolutions of international legitimacy related to the Palestinian issue with the aim of implementing them, and not simply returning to absurd negotiations about whether we have national rights or not or linking that to Israeli approval or not, as happened during the past three decades.

The Palestinian issue still resides in the hearts of the Arab peoples, but the unity and mobilization of the energies of the Palestinian people to confront the aggressive Israeli plans is what makes this issue among the Arab brothers more than just static feelings.