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To please the American master, MBS licks the boots of Israel
By Abdel Bari Atwan (press review: Chronicle of Palestine -6/4/18) *
A close reading of the long interview of Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin-Salman with The Atlantic shows that this is probably the most important interview he has ever given - not only because of the new approach he unveiled, but also because of the concrete steps that the young prince could take once he returned from his three-week tour of the United States.
The prince did not address the Saudi people in this interview, but the decision-makers, legislators and the deep state of the United States. He wanted to prove that his way of seeing things, and the projects he has, made him a reliable and trustworthy ally, in order to obtain the "green light" from the United States on his accession to the Saudi throne - what he hopes to happen in the days or weeks after his return.
Bin-Salman chose his words with great care. He knew what he meant, what he should not say, and who he meant to say. He sought to earn the trust of the supreme ally by exposing his political, social and economic plans, and he seems to have achieved his goal, at least in the case of the White House of President Donald Trump and the "Cabinet of war "that he is putting in place.
One can draw several conclusions by analyzing the questions and answers of this carefully written interview, as well as the introduction of interviewer Jeffrey Goldberg, and also reading between the lines.
Bin-Salman acknowledged, for the first time in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict, that Jews have the right to establish a state in "a part of their ancestral homeland". Dennis Ross, the former Israeli lobbyist who handled the Arab-Israeli negotiations under successive US administrations, welcomed this unprecedented recognition. Earlier, he noted, "moderate" Arab governments had recognized Israel as a fait accompli, but none of them had gone so far as to cross that red line.
Throughout the interview, as reported by Goldberg, Bin-Salman "never said anything negative" about Israel, and made no mention of the annexation of occupied Jerusalem as capital of Israel - on the contrary, he praised Israel and its economic achievements. Nor did he refer to a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. He merely expressed his belief that "Palestinians and Israelis have the right to their own land."
He divided the Middle East into two camps (just as former al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin-Laden did, albeit using a different terminology).First, there is the "evil triangle" including Iran and Hezbollah , the Muslim Brotherhood and various terrorist groups; opposed to a moderate camp including Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait and Yemen alongside Saudi Arabia. It is striking that he did not include Morocco or other North African countries in this list.
The Saudi Crown Prince acknowledged that his country had once used the Muslim Brotherhood to fight Communism, which he said had threatened the United States, Europe and Saudi Arabia itself during the Cold War. In this context, he described the regime of former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser as "communist".
He flatly denied the existence of Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia, and insisted that there was no school other than the four great schools of classical Sunni theology and that there was no discrimination between Sunnis and Shiites in the kingdom.
He denied that Saudi Arabia had ever funded terrorist or extremist groups, but admitted that Saudis - whom he did not name - could support.
He categorically refused to answer questions about his alleged anti-corruption campaign. Goldberg admitted that he had not even questioned her about it, because when asked about the purchase of a $ 500 million yacht and other purchases in a previous interview with CBS, he replied angrily that it was private business.
Finally, Bin-Salman has launched a particularly ferocious attack on the Iranian leader Ali Khamenei, worse than Hitler, according to him, because Hitler wanted to conquer only Europe while Khamenei wants to conquer the whole world. So you have to stop it instead of trying to coax it as the Europeans did with Hitler before they realized how dangerous he was.
It can be concluded from all that, that the Saudi Crown Prince is planning a future alliance with Israel as part of a "moderate" Arab axis that would oppose Iran with the support of the United States, he proposes to make Israel as an economic partner and strengthen its links with this state according to their mutual interests. It seemed to make this rapprochement depend on a just regional peace settlement. But he made no mention of the Arab peace plan or its provisions, even though it was originally drafted by Saudi Arabia itself.
To recognize an "ancestral" Jewish right to Palestine is a very serious development. King Salman hastened to "correct" the impression given by his son by calling on Trump to reaffirm Saudi Arabia's commitment to a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. But the damage was done .... and the real ruler of Riyadh is Prince Mohammed.
He advances in a minefield. It may be worthwhile to remind him that all the Arab leaders who bet on Israel in the past have come to regret it.There is still time to think twice.
Original version: April 3, 2018 - Raï-al-Yaoum
By Abdel Bari Atwan (press review: Chronicle of Palestine -6/4/18) *
A close reading of the long interview of Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin-Salman with The Atlantic shows that this is probably the most important interview he has ever given - not only because of the new approach he unveiled, but also because of the concrete steps that the young prince could take once he returned from his three-week tour of the United States.
The prince did not address the Saudi people in this interview, but the decision-makers, legislators and the deep state of the United States. He wanted to prove that his way of seeing things, and the projects he has, made him a reliable and trustworthy ally, in order to obtain the "green light" from the United States on his accession to the Saudi throne - what he hopes to happen in the days or weeks after his return.
Bin-Salman chose his words with great care. He knew what he meant, what he should not say, and who he meant to say. He sought to earn the trust of the supreme ally by exposing his political, social and economic plans, and he seems to have achieved his goal, at least in the case of the White House of President Donald Trump and the "Cabinet of war "that he is putting in place.
One can draw several conclusions by analyzing the questions and answers of this carefully written interview, as well as the introduction of interviewer Jeffrey Goldberg, and also reading between the lines.
Bin-Salman acknowledged, for the first time in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict, that Jews have the right to establish a state in "a part of their ancestral homeland". Dennis Ross, the former Israeli lobbyist who handled the Arab-Israeli negotiations under successive US administrations, welcomed this unprecedented recognition. Earlier, he noted, "moderate" Arab governments had recognized Israel as a fait accompli, but none of them had gone so far as to cross that red line.
Throughout the interview, as reported by Goldberg, Bin-Salman "never said anything negative" about Israel, and made no mention of the annexation of occupied Jerusalem as capital of Israel - on the contrary, he praised Israel and its economic achievements. Nor did he refer to a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. He merely expressed his belief that "Palestinians and Israelis have the right to their own land."
He divided the Middle East into two camps (just as former al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin-Laden did, albeit using a different terminology).First, there is the "evil triangle" including Iran and Hezbollah , the Muslim Brotherhood and various terrorist groups; opposed to a moderate camp including Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait and Yemen alongside Saudi Arabia. It is striking that he did not include Morocco or other North African countries in this list.
The Saudi Crown Prince acknowledged that his country had once used the Muslim Brotherhood to fight Communism, which he said had threatened the United States, Europe and Saudi Arabia itself during the Cold War. In this context, he described the regime of former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser as "communist".
He flatly denied the existence of Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia, and insisted that there was no school other than the four great schools of classical Sunni theology and that there was no discrimination between Sunnis and Shiites in the kingdom.
He denied that Saudi Arabia had ever funded terrorist or extremist groups, but admitted that Saudis - whom he did not name - could support.
He categorically refused to answer questions about his alleged anti-corruption campaign. Goldberg admitted that he had not even questioned her about it, because when asked about the purchase of a $ 500 million yacht and other purchases in a previous interview with CBS, he replied angrily that it was private business.
Finally, Bin-Salman has launched a particularly ferocious attack on the Iranian leader Ali Khamenei, worse than Hitler, according to him, because Hitler wanted to conquer only Europe while Khamenei wants to conquer the whole world. So you have to stop it instead of trying to coax it as the Europeans did with Hitler before they realized how dangerous he was.
It can be concluded from all that, that the Saudi Crown Prince is planning a future alliance with Israel as part of a "moderate" Arab axis that would oppose Iran with the support of the United States, he proposes to make Israel as an economic partner and strengthen its links with this state according to their mutual interests. It seemed to make this rapprochement depend on a just regional peace settlement. But he made no mention of the Arab peace plan or its provisions, even though it was originally drafted by Saudi Arabia itself.
To recognize an "ancestral" Jewish right to Palestine is a very serious development. King Salman hastened to "correct" the impression given by his son by calling on Trump to reaffirm Saudi Arabia's commitment to a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. But the damage was done .... and the real ruler of Riyadh is Prince Mohammed.
He advances in a minefield. It may be worthwhile to remind him that all the Arab leaders who bet on Israel in the past have come to regret it.There is still time to think twice.
Original version: April 3, 2018 - Raï-al-Yaoum
