Riyadh must holdback its pressure

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan informed the world leaders at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos on Tuesday that the kingdom could recognize Israel if a comprehensive agreement were reached that ensured statehood for the Palestinians. According to him, Riyadh agreed to regional peace including peace for Israel, that also ensures peace and statehood for the Palestinians through the creation of an autonomous Palestinian state.

The state of Israel had long sought to create bonds and normalise ties with the most influential, resourceful, and wealthiest Arab states including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Jordan, and Kwait which not only have decades-long animosity with Tel Aviv but pose a persistent security risk for the Jewish state due to long common borders amid an all-time heated Palestine dispute. Historically, securing a normalization deal with Saudi Arabia would be the grand prize for Israel after it established diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan, which could transform the geopolitics of the Middle East according to the desires and plans of Tel Aviv at the later stage in the future.

Successive US administrations have been working ceaselessly for the normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, the most powerful country in the Arab world and home to the most sacred sites in Islam, wields considerable religious clout across the Muslim world. As a stable and peaceful Middle East not only serves Washington’s strategic interests but sufficiently facilitates Israel’s political and economic merger in the Middle East region.

Previously, the Trump administration facilitated the Abraham Accord that paved the way for Israel’s normalization of diplomatic and trade ties with four important Muslim nations, while the Biden Administration carried forward the idea for a Riyadh-Tel Aviv partnership in exchange for a defence pact with the Kingdom and a few concessions for Palestinians. Over the past months, Saudi Arabia has been in talks with the United States and Israel for the normalization of Saudi-Israel bilateral relations in exchange for US Security guarantees along with a vague assurance regarding the creation of a Palestinian state if things move smoothly in that direction. However, Hamas sabotaged the US plan through the October 7 attacks that not only stalled the Saudi-Israel diplomatic romance pushing the whole region into a crisis.

Historically, peace and regional stability are equally important for Israel as well as the Arab states but it could not be possible without a just and amicable resolution of the Palestine issue. Israel and its close ally America desire to forge friendly ties with Arab countries while putting the Palestine issue aside on mere assurance and promise of the formation of the Palestinian state and they succeeded in their plan throughout the past.

However, Hamas blocked their path and failed their strategy through recent incursions into southern Israel. In fact, over 24000 Palestinian deaths, unprecedented ruination of the Gaza Strip, months of the suffering of innocent Palestinians, and utmost pressure from the global community caused a rift between Israel and the US, which created an opportunity for dialogue on ceasefire and detailed talks on Palestine issue.

At this crucial moment, being a power hub of the Arab nations and the leader of Muslim Ummah, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia owes an important responsibility not to lose its temperament and hold back its pressure without luring into the ploy of security guarantees, promises for civilian nuclear technology, any other political, economic or military deal for the kingdom that betray poor Palestinians for another time.

The desire for peace and diplomacy is a sane policy but unnecessary kindness and compromise with the opponents are seen as cowardliness and cost huge strategic prices to a nation in the long run. Hence, Aale-Saud has to demonstrate resoluteness and loyalty to the Arabs and Palestine cause at this point otherwise its loss would be eternal and irreparable.