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Saudi-Israel normalisation seeks the complete surrender of the Palestinians

September 25, 2023 at 12:00 pm

A plaque used to reserve the seat of the delegation from Israel, is seen during the UNESCO Extended 45th session of the World Heritage Committee in Riyadh on September 11, 2023 [FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP via Getty Images]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was very clear about Saudi Arabia’s inclination towards normalising with the Zionist enemy in his speech at the UN General Assembly: Israel, he claimed, is “at the cusp” of normalisation with the Kingdom. Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman said that his country is close to normalisation. This suggests that there has been contact and negotiations between them behind closed doors, and that they will announce an agreement soon.

It would seem, therefore, that Saudi Arabia is about to sell the Palestinian issue very cheaply. A normalisation agreement with the Saudis will embolden Netanyahu to annex the occupied West Bank, establish even more apartheid with the Palestinians, expand illegal settlements and encourage Jewish-settler terrorism.

READ: PA rejects Netanyahu’s ‘hateful, provocative’ UN speech

Speculation has been rife about this normalisation since Bin Salman became crown prince. He made a secret visit to Israel in 2016 and met senior Israeli politicians. The news was leaked; Israel usually exposes Arab rulers and its contacts with them. Israeli media published a photo of Bin Salman’s aircraft at Ben Gurion Airport in 2016, and he opened Saudi airspace to Israeli planes last year; Israeli officials and business people have visited the Kingdom. All of this pointed to Saudi Arabia heading towards normalisation, with the only thing holding it back was the pampering it was receiving; there was never any shame that the Custodian of the two Holy Mosques in Makkah and Madinah was courting Israel.

Bin Salman was behind Donald Trump’s “deal of the century”, which was revealed by Western media, including the American Conservative magazine affiliated with supporters of the Republican Party. It explained the details of the meeting between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Bin Salman, in which the prince is reported to have said that Abbas has forgotten about Jerusalem once and for all, and the State of Palestine will be in the Gaza Strip, supported by land of unspecified size in the Sinai Peninsula.

countries that speak Arabic and whose religion is Islam, but whose rulers are Zionists loyal to Israel

This normalisation agreement will change the features of the Arab world. It will not be Arab, but purely Zionist, with countries that speak Arabic and whose religion is Islam, but whose rulers are Zionists loyal to Israel. This is what Netanyahu called the “New Middle East” at the UN, which Zionist politicians, most notably Shimon Peres, have dreamt of. There is neither an Arab world nor a Palestinian issue on the map that Netanyahu waved around, but rather a regional power — the apartheid state of Israel — supported by the US-led West, that will fill its coffers with Saudi oil money in exchange for a concession to allow uranium enrichment. Bin Salman said that his country wants to engage in a nuclear project, but it will not attempt to manufacture a nuclear bomb unless Iran is allowed to do so.

Israel: normalisation with Saudi Arabia a 'matter of time - Cartoon [Sabaaneh/Middle East Monitor]

Israel: normalisation with Saudi Arabia a ‘matter of time – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/Middle East Monitor]

Netanyahu’s statements after his meeting with US President Joe Biden indicate the possibilities of arranging a US-Israeli agreement that addresses Riyadh’s three demands: a nuclear project, Washington’s pledge to defend the Kingdom, and some gains for the Palestinians in the two-state solution. This “solution” is the huge lie that has always been used to cover the shameful deals and suspicious agreements with the Zionist enemy.

There is no doubt that both Biden and Netanyahu need to help each other. With a Saudi-Israel normalisation deal Biden will save the nightmare coalition, as Haaretz described Netanyahu’s government, and Netanyahu will exploit it by using Israel’s influence on representatives in Congress, whether Republicans or Democrats, to agree to the Saudi conditions with the exception of course, of the two-state solution. This does not matter to Bin Salman, as he tries to whitewash his image in the eyes of the Arab people. Ultimately all that matters to him are the strategic goals that support Saudi Arabia’s position regionally and globally, after his reputation took a hit with his failed war in Yemen, the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, and his country’s blockade of Qatar.

READ: Israel says framework Saudi normalisation deal possible by early 2024

Normalisation with Israel will achieve US goals by erasing the Palestinian issue from the equation of regional and international relations. The integration of Israel into the region requires the abolition of legitimate Palestinian rights, as Washington works to transform the Middle East into a political, commercial and military corridor between Asia and Europe. Hence, it hopes to end Arab hostility towards Israel, as the apartheid state becomes the power that manages the regional security and economy, and controls its wealth.

The idea of normalisation with the Arab world and isolating the Palestinians so that they surrender is not new. It was common after the 1948 Nakba, but the start of the Palestinian revolution made it more difficult, and so it was necessary to remove the Palestine Liberation Organisation from Lebanon. The first Palestinian intifada in 1987 flipped the equation, while the defeat of Iraq was the gateway to an attempt to subjugate the Palestinians through the cursed Oslo Accords in 1993. Normalisation returned strongly with Trump’s presidency and his success with the 2020 Abraham Accords, which the Zionist Arab regimes rushed to sign, surprising even the Israelis.

It was thus confirmed to Washington that the Abraham Accords, which will soon be embraced by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is the best solution to force the surrender and complete submission of the Arab people, including the Palestinians.

OPINION: Saudi Arabia does not care about Palestine or Jerusalem; it cares about Israel

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.