On the face of it, the Saudi announcement that it has appointed an ambassador to the “State of Palestine” would appear to be a victory for the Palestinian Authority. But some are convinced that the Saudis hope by this move to buy Palestinian silence when the “normalization deal” with Israel is finally announced.
More on the Saudi move can be found here: “Palestinians fear new Saudi envoy linked to normalization with Israel,” by Khaled Abu Toameh, Jerusalem Post, August 13, 2023:
Palestinians fear new Saudi envoy linked to normalization with Israel.
The Saudi decision will make it difficult for the Palestinian leadership to condemn a normalization agreement with Israel.
Palestinians on Sunday welcomed Saudi Arabia’s decision to appoint its first ambassador to “Palestine,” but expressed fear the move could be part of a larger US-engineered plan that would see the Kingdom normalize its relations with Israel.
On Saturday, the Saudis announced the appointment of Nayef al-Sudairi, the current ambassador to Jordan, as “Ambassador Extraordinary to the State of Palestine and Consul-General in Jerusalem.”
Al-Sudairi will continue to serve in his job in the Jordanian capital of Amman. He presented his credentials to Majdi al-Khailidi, Diplomatic Affairs Advisor to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, during a ceremony at the Palestinian embassy in Jordan.
Al-Sudairi is unlikely to move to Ramallah, where several countries have representative offices that serve as unofficial embassies. It’s also unlikely that the Saudis would open a consulate general in Jerusalem without Israel’s approval….
The Israeli government has already announced that any Saudi embassy or consulate will not be allowed in Jerusalem. The Saudis are unlikely to press for the impossible, but in the end will either agree to send al-Sudairi to Ramallah, the only conceivable capital of a future Palestinian state, or to let him continue to exercise his functions from Amman as a non-resident ambassador to the nonexistent State of Palestine.
Of course, the Palestinians are hailing the decision of the Saudis to upgrade their diplomatic ties with the PA as a great “diplomatic victory.” What else can they do? They will simply keep their doubts about the Kingdom’s real intentions to themselves.
The Saudi decision will make it difficult for the Palestinian leadership to condemn Saudi Arabia if and when it reaches a normalization agreement with Israel. In the past, the Palestinian leadership strongly denounced the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain for signing normalization agreements with Israel.
Abbas is said to have assured Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan that he won’t come out against a normalization deal between Riyadh and Jerusalem, according to another Palestinian official.
The Saudis now feel that the PA owes them for having agreed to appoint an ambassador to the “State of Palestine.” That, in their view, along with the financial package they are presumed to be preparing to provide to the PA, ought to be enough to keep the Palestinians quiet when the Kingdom normalizes ties with the Jewish state. And in fact, the Saudis have already received assurances from Abbas that he won’t express any opposition to such a Saudi-Israel deal. In his case the main reason for this promised silence is his expectation that the Saudis will, at the same time as the deal with Israel is announced, also make public massive financial aid to the Palestinians.
“The timing of the decision reflects the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s interest in the Palestinian cause as a main pillar of its foreign policy on the Arab, Islamic, and international arenas, and as an extension of the Kingdom’s historic and brotherly relations in support of the Palestinian cause and the rights of our people,” the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement….
No, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has things wrong. The Saudis have lost interest in the Cause of Palestine, and want to get on with improving ties with the Jewish state and getting important concessions from the Americans. But they want to make sure the Palestinians don’t publicly make trouble by publicly criticizing the normalization of ties with Israel. The “timing” of the upgrade in diplomatic ties with the PA does not reflect “Saudi Arabia’s interest in the Palestinian cause,” but rather, the progress being made in negotiations with the Americans over Saudi Arabia’s three demands for normalizing ties with Israel: a security pact, access to advanced weapons, and help with a civilian nuclear program.
A senior Palestinian official in Ramallah said he did not rule out the possibility that the Saudi decision was directly linked to the US effort to persuade the Kingdom to normalize its relations with Israel. “As far as we are concerned, this is a very good step in the right direction,” the official said. “We hope the Saudis took the decision to strengthen their relations with the Palestinians, and not as a way of appeasing them ahead of a normalization deal with Israel….”
That Palestinian official is right to worry: Saudi Arabia’s decision on the ambassador is meant precisely to “appease” the Palestinians in advance of the Kingdom’s decision to normalize ties with Israel, so that they keep quiet when it comes.
Former Palestinian negotiator and cabinet minister Hassan Asfour, who currently serves as editor of the Palestinian Amad news website, said he did not believe the Saudi move was disconnected from the issue of normalization with Israel….
The Saudis have deliberately been keeping the Palestinians in the dark about the progress in negotiations with both the Israelis and the Americans. The Crown Prince is not going to allow the Palestinians to play any part in those negotiations, and certainly won’t agree to the formation of a committee — consisting of representatives of “Palestine,” Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, as suggested by Hassan Asfour — that could potentially try to throw a spanner into the works of a Saudi-Israel deal.
The Palestinian ambassador to Saudi Arabia Bassam al-Agha said the Saudi decision “aims to send a message to the world that the Kingdom deals with Palestine as a state with Jerusalem as its capital.”
The Saudi move, he added, reflects a Saudi desire to strengthen the Kingdom’s relations with the Palestinian leadership and people.
That, of course, is putting a purely positive spin on the ambassadorial appointment. The Saudis may have made up their minds to go through with that deal because the gains they will thereby achieve are so great: a defense pact with the U.S., the ability to buy advanced American weaponry that hitherto have been withheld; American help in building a civilian nuclear program. They don’t want the PA to publicly accuse them of “betraying the Palestinian cause.” Hence the sop of appointing a non-resident ambassador to the “State of Palestine,” to be followed by billions of dollars in an aid package to the PA, one that could, of course, be withdrawn should the Palestinians publicly protest the Saudi normalization of ties.
Palestinian political analyst Hani al-Masri told the Ramallah-based Watan media outlet that the appointment of the Saudi ambassador came in the context of the US administration’s efforts to secure a normalization agreement between the Kingdom and Israel.
“According to my information, the Saudis have informed the Palestinian Authority that Palestine is included in this [normalization] deal,” al-Masri said, noting that the nature of the inclusion of the Palestinians in the agreement remains unclear. “What is certain is that the Palestinian Authority will receive financial aid in return for keeping silent. We must be cautious and not accept any deal that does not include the establishment of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, including Jerusalem.”
When the Saudis assured the PA that “Palestine [will be] included in the normalization deal,” they did not provide any details. The Saudis know that what the PA has been clamoring for — Israel agreeing to be squeezed back within the 1949 armistice lines, so that a Palestinian state can be established on the territory Israel yields — is impossible to achieve. And they no longer care very much about the Palestinians, except to make sure they remain silent when the Saudis make their deal to normalize ties with Israel in exchange for those three major concessions by the United States. Al-Masri has It exactly right: “What is certain is that the Palestinian Authority will receive financial aid in return for keeping silent.” And even before that, Riyadh has just offered the Palestinians the lesser bribe of appointing a Saudi ambassador to the State of Palestine. It’s not a sign of Saudi support, as the PA allows itself to believe, but is hush money, paid in advance.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Given that this deal is being done during
➤ A peace deal that Saudis have struck w/ Iran under Chinese auspices
➤ Biden administration, which has a mutual disdain of the Saudis
I don’t quite think that this is being done to bribe the Palis w/ silence. If anything, the Saudis may be bribing the Palis to be their advocates w/ Teheran to ensure that Iran doesn’t do anything against the sunni Gulf states, but focuses its attention on Israel
OLD GUY says
Don’i trust the Saudis or any of the islamic countries leaders.
libertyORdeath says
One simple answer – Joe Biden
They wouldn’t have done this if Trump was still president, in fact, the Saudis were moving away from “Palestinians” when Trump was in.
The despots of the world see weakness and they are making the most of it.
We already had the disaster in Afghanistan and the current debacle in Ukraine. I’m sure a new intifada in Israel and an invasion of Taiwan is inevitable if Biden and the rest of the leftists win again throughout the West.