In this episode of Our Middle East Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs Dan Diker and JCPA analyst, Arab affairs expert, and veteran journalist Yoni Ben Menahem discuss talk of an American-initiated Saudi-Israeli peace and normalization deal after U.S. national security advisor Jake Sullivan was dispatched to Jeddah to speak with Saudi leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Diker and Ben Menahem agree that though advantageous to the Saudis and Americans, such a deal would prove a honey trap for Israel.
Saudi Arabia would likely demand civilian nuclear capabilities, freezing building of Israeli West Bank settlements, and Israeli withdrawal to 1967 lines in order to establish a Palestinian state, with a capital in East Jerusalem, all traditional Saudi demands that MBS inherited from his predecessors. All of these would prove “suicidal” to Israel in Diker’s words especially as the Palestinian street does not wish to make peace and an overwhelming majority do not want to be ruled by a corrupt and weakened PA.
Ben Menahem says of the West Bank population and its terror groups, “Ninety percent support the armed struggle against Israel…. They want them to spread all over the West Bank, topple the regime of the PA…and fight Israel. They’re not talking about peace and a two-state solution. This is an illusion and dream of the Biden administration.”
Ben Menahem is worried that in an effort to secure both their legacies, Israel will make concessions that are not good for it in order to achieve “peace”. Comparing it to Ariel Sharon’s 2005 decision to withdraw from the Gaza Strip he said, “You can never say it won’t happen when politicians want to have a legacy and they change their mind. You don’t know what kind of pressures are put on them and what are their personal considerations. This is very alarming.”
According to Diker and Ben-Menahem, the US really doesn’t understand the security situation in Israel. The Iranians through their proxies are now active in the West Bank and have started shooting primitive rockets from there. “They are hanging over Tel Aviv. This is why this is really a strategic war over Israel’s home front. “
Our Middle East: An Insider’s View” airs live on Zenger News TV Youtube Channel, Facebook and Twitter at 1:30 PM EST/8:30 PM IST. You can also listen to the audio version here. A Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs podcast produced by Zenger News.
You can catch the audio version on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Dan Diker is the president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, a foreign policy expert and the former Secretary General of the World Jewish Congress.
Produced in association with Jewish News Syndicate
Edited by Saba Fatima and Asad Ali
