Any saudis or anyone claiming that saudis do not have relation with israel should be shown the followings.
Egypt-Saudi ties could be key to Trump’s Mideast 'ultimate deal'
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For more than a year, Al-Monitor has been trying to find a satisfactory answer to the reason behind Saudi Arabia's asking Egypt to cede control of Tiran and Sanafir. Through
Saudi sources in the Royal Court, Al-Monitor managed to connect with influential Saudi leaders and decision-makers and extract information and explanations that made the bigger picture behind this shift in Riyadh’s stance in the region clearer. These connections also shed light on why the issue of Tiran and Sanafir came to a head in 2016, although it had been on the table for a long time.
The Saudi source said, “The request that Riyadh gain control of
Tiran and Sanafir was not a purely Saudi demand. In fact, this was an Israeli request that Saudi voiced.” The source went on to explain the reasons and the link between the two islands, the Saudi changes and the Palestinian cause.
“Saudi-Israeli relations are the main gateway to understanding the issue of the Tiran and Sanafir islands, the transformations in the region and the backstage deliberations over the Palestinian cause,” the source added.
The source indicated that
Saudi-Israeli security coordination precedes any diplomatic rapprochement, saying, “The Saudi army signed a memorandum of understanding to train Saudi officers with the Israelis. The first training session in which officers participated took place in 2015 at the naval base in Haifa. Through the United States, Saudi Arabia sought Israeli cooperation to manage the [Bab el-] Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden to cut off Iran’s supplies to the Houthis.” The source added, “There are US and Israeli officers in King Faisal air base in Tabuk.”
According to the same source, Saudi Arabia signed a memorandum of understanding to buy and install the Iron Dome and the Hetz family of missiles through the defense manufacturing company Raytheon, which is a partner of the Israeli Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. The memorandum was signed after US President Barack Obama’s visit to Saudi Arabia in April 2016.
In addition to Saudis' fear of Iranian expansion in the region, there were indications of potential rapprochement and normalization of ties with Israel from former Saudi officials. This encouraged Israelis to ask Saudi Arabia to take control of Tiran and Sanafir from Egypt. Israeli officials voiced this demand to assistants of King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud during the 2015 summer break he spent in the French city of Cannes.
But why is Israel suddenly interested in the two islands at this time?
The source said, “Israel wants to complete control of the water in its border regions, especially those overlooking the Sinai Peninsula, following the deterioration of the situation there, and the Gulf of Aqaba. The Dead Sea project has been revived, and through it, there will be a water canal feeding the Dead Sea in Jordan from the Red Sea waters. Israel also wants to mark its territory and assert its sovereignty in this part of the territorial waters.”
The source highlighted another aspect of the repercussions of transferring the control of the two islands and turning the region into an international waters’ zone in which Israel officially has the upper hand. A project is under study to build a railway line between Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Israel. He noted, “This line will seemingly extend from Jordan to Israel, but covertly, it will establish better economic and trade ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Jordan is currently examining the possibility of a free trade zone between the two countries [Israel and Jordan]. Meanwhile, Israel is seriously considering building Ben Gurion canal between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to strengthen its ties with the Gulf countries through Saudi Arabia and to marginalize the role of the Suez Canal.”
The source continued, “Israel and the United States are asking to take part in controlling the two islands under alleged concerns about the deteriorating situation in Sinai, which directly threatens Israel’s national security.” The source did not reveal the official Saudi response to this demand, but said that the Saudi intelligence apparatus does not seem to mind such a development.
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http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/ori...-agreement-trump-palestine.html#ixzz4j9UWj6dP