Let’s talk about Israel’s new friends.
For years many Arab countries banded together against Israel.
But some countries are rethinking that.
Some are even making it official.
What they’re calling normalisation appears
to have been happening, quietly, for years.
Now it’s out in the open
and the US is pretty much leading the whole thing.
So what does normalisation even mean?
What’s in it for these countries?
And how does it affect the Palestinians?
Normalisation is basically diplomatic-speak
for two countries having some kind of formal relationship
where before there was none
through things like trade deals, setting up embassies
and direct flights.
But not that long ago the idea of Gulf countries
having cordial relations with Israel was unthinkable.
There’s been a lot of bad blood.
In 1948 Israel expelled around 750,000 Palestinians
and declared itself a state.
That basically sparked decades of on-again, off-again Arab-Israeli wars.
At one point Saudi Arabia even sent in troops.
Since then the problem has been how Israel is slowly
taking over Palestinian land by illegally building settlements
blockading the Gaza Strip
and militarily occupying everything else.
So for as long as many can remember
Saudi Arabia has stood by the Palestinians
particularly King Salman.
Together with other Arab states
the Saudis drew a line in the sand in 2002.
But King Salman is not really in charge anymore.
And his son seems to have other ideas.
It’s why those recent reports of a secret Saudi-Israeli
meeting got so much attention.
US and Israeli media say the American secretary of state
Mike Pompeo, was on an official visit to Saudi Arabia
when Benjamin Netanyahu flew over too.
The Saudis, though, say it never happened.
Other countries are already embracing a new friendship.
Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates both signed deals with Israel in 2020.
Sudan has a normalisation agreement too.
So why the change?
So where does all of this leave the Palestinians?
Well it weakens their leaders’ position to negotiate a peace deal with Israel
and for many Palestinian people it’ll just be harder
to get justice or undo decades of Israeli occupation.
So why the change?
There was a UAE-Israeli trade conference
and Twitter pages are now promoting Israeli products
in the Gulf and Emirati products in Israel.
Any other year this joint music video by Israeli and Emirati
artists would’ve just seemed weird.
But this is 2020.
Trading with Israel would make business sense
for Saudi Arabia too.
But normalising with Israel
is about more than making money.
It’s no secret that MBS is trying to remake
his own image as a modern leader.
He’s got a lot to overcome.
Think the war in Yemen
arresting critics
even accusations he was involved in the shocking
dismemberment of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
So for a smooth ascension to the throne
MBS needs friends in high places.
Back in 2018 Trump and MBS
were laughing it up in the Oval Office.
The occasion was a business tour by Saudi Arabia.
Under Trump it’s a relationship that seems to be able
to withstand just about anything.
Even after Khashoggi’s murder Trump’s son-in-law
and adviser Jared Kushner kept in touch with MBS.
But with Joe Biden as US president
that relationship is expected to change.
But there’s still time for Trump and others
to influence the next four years.
Especially when it comes to Iran.
Because nothing makes friends quite like having a common enemy.
One of the first things Trump did in office was pull out
of the nuclear deal and order more sanctions on Iran.
But the incoming US president says
he wants to revive that deal.
That could be why Trump seems to be pushing
all these new alliances in the Middle East before Biden gets in.
A deal between MBS and Netanyahu won’t be
an easy sell to many people in the region.
There’s already been some resistance
to the deals that were signed before.
Normalising ties with Israel’s Arab neighbours
is a big win for Netanyahu.
Saudi Arabia would be the top prize.
For all of them it’s good for business.
For some it means isolating Iran.
But for the Palestinians — it’s a betrayal.