Arab-Israeli Normalisation: A desperate attempt at isolating Iran
June 3, 2019. Middle East Monitor
The choice of Bahrain as the centre of the latest American gambit is a strategic move, as it fits into a broader context of the ongoing normalization between Arab countries and Israel.
US-Israeli politicking, however, aims at more than normalizing the Israeli occupation among Arab countries. It also intends to change the status quo of Arab centres of political and spiritual power as well.
Netanyahu and his Washington allies, for example, found it shocking that Obama was still talking of illegal settlement freeze rather than preparing for war against Iran. The nuclear deal reached between international powers and Iran in 2015 was particularly unforgivable from an Israeli point of view. The Saudis shared that sentiment. Wary of Iran’s growing influence, Saudi rulers understood that any change to the status quo in the Middle East, which has prevailed since the Roosevelt-Ibn Saud agreement (so-called Quincy Agreement) in 1945, represented a direct threat to their power.
The advent of Trump, an impulsive, erratic and opportunistic president, represented the perfect opportunity for the understated Saudi-Israeli anti-Iran alliance to take shape. His visit to Saudi Arabia on May 20, 2017, and astronomical financial military deals signed with the Kingdom (totalling $350 bn), as well as other Gulf monarchies was the price required for the US to re-engage with the region, this time not driven by any particular American priorities or illusions, but by the stated desire to recreate a Middle East region where Israel, Saudi Arabia and their allies are the main centres of power.
While Arab rulers continued to pay lip-service to Palestine, on February 13-14, Trump advisor and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, along with the ardently pro-Israel Special Middle East Envoy, Jason Greenblatt met in Warsaw with top Arab officials in one of the clearest signs of normalization. The Warsaw Middle East summit did more than merely demonize Iran, but it was an important step in the declaration of the new American order in the Middle East, one in which Israel and some Arab countries, under the leadership of Saudi Arabia will open a new chapter, one in which Palestine is no longer a priority.
But not all Arabs are rejoicing or consenting to the new American agenda. The Jordanian ruling elites are fuming.
The US-Israel plot aims at marginalizing Jordan. In their view, the country is militarily weak and financially reliant on foreign aid. While there is much truth to these calculations, Jordan is likely to put up a fight, for it stands to lose most.
The attempt at disempowering poorer US allies while empowering wealthy Gulf countries could shatter long-standing alliances between Arab countries that have historically been perceived by the US as the ‘moderates’. Jordan has every reason to worry that Washington’s game could jeopardize its standing in Palestine, especially in Jerusalem, which could undermine the Hashemite Kingdom and its claim of regional leadership.
Considering the varying degrees of failure in all previous US initiatives, starting with the Kuwait war in 1990-91, the Deal of the Century is likely to meet the same futile end, especially as it attempts to generate a new political map in a region that is experiencing its greatest upheaval in decades.
At best, the Deal of the Century will allow US, Israel and Arab ruling elites to merely buy time, each for his own domestic benefit.
However, it is also likely to result in the splitting up of an Arab camp that has served as the American vanguard in the Middle East for many years. This could be the US’s greatest political gamble in the region yet.
Israel
Covenant of peace and safety
Covenant of peace and security
Deal of the Century
Donald Trump
Jared Kushner
Deal Makers
Covenant Makers
Mohammed Bin Salman
Confirmer
False covenant
Deadly covenant
Evil covenant
Deceiving covenant
Misleading covenant
A covenant that traps and kills and destroys