RNA - On the pretext of derailing the Iran nuclear deal and in a bid to form a united front against Syria and Yemen, Riyadh and Tel Aviv have finally decided to redraw their political lines in the sand, officially tying the knot not behind closed doors, but in broad daylight and in Official Washington.
On May 5, the self-serving, despotic regimes marketed a “path-breaking public dialogue between senior national security leaders from two old adversaries” in a high-profile meeting in Washington DC. The participants were Prince Turki bin Faisal, Saudi Arabia’s former intelligence chief and one-time ambassador to Washington, and retired Israeli Defense Forces Major General Yaakov Amidror, former national security advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, among many others.
What’s more, the like-minded human rights abusers spoke together at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a pro-Israel organization funded by AIPAC donors, staffed by AIPAC employees, and located down the hall from AIPAC Headquarters.
The high-profile meeting serves as further proof that Saudi Arabia is now officially engaged in diplomatic relations with Israel, with no efforts whatsoever to boycott Israel, let alone support the Palestinian right to freedom and self-determination. Also, this is not the first public meeting of its kind. The two regimes had a former official speak at a Council on Foreign Relations panel last year too. It was similarly the highest profile meeting at the time.
The new development shouldn’t come as surprise to anyone though. The settler-colonial entities are one and the same, both formed by the colonial powers, both busy occupying lands and spreading terror, both targeting innocent civilian populations, and both committing the worst possible crimes against humanity in places like Syria, Yemen, and occupied Palestine – with great impunity and no accountability.
So expect no withdrawal by Israel from the occupied territories, no more Arab Peace Initiative, no return of Palestinian refugees, and certainly no statehood for the long-suffering people of Palestine. Instead, expect to see broader relations between the Arab world and racist Israeli institutions, and surely more Israeli wars and atrocities against unarmed Palestinians, this time though, publicly endorsed and supported by the House of Saud and its regional minions.
This is precisely why Prime Minister Netanyahu is not showing any willingness to withdraw from the Occupied Palestinian Territory, while his ministers are calling for the official annexation of the West Bank. He is even publicly endorsing the Saudi-led and US-backed wars on Syria and Yemen. He knows for sure that the House of Saud and its Arab allies are no longer committed to the Palestinian cause.
In a way, by normalizing relations with Israel without demanding a just solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Saudi Arabia has betrayed the Muslim world in general and the Palestinian people in particular. Undeniably, the new development is the last nail in the coffin of the Arab Peace Initiative. It could even pave the way for rift among Palestinian resistance groups.
Taken together, Riyadh’s new strategy to normalize ties with Tel Aviv is designed to undermine the Palestinian unity and betray the Palestine cause. The disgraceful move only serves the regional interests of the regimes and goes against the very purpose of the Palestinian resistance i.e., the decolonization of the land.
Under the circumstances, armed resistance, and not new elections or Oslo accords, is the only way that could help the people of Palestine get back what is rightfully theirs. The settler-colonial entity must be clearly told that the single demand of Palestinians is for a true, multi-party democracy throughout historic Palestine based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
R۱۱۱/۱۰۸/C/