30 | DECEMBER 3 • 2020
Prince Mohammed bin Salman
(MBS) has become persona non
grata among Americans — who
were already critical of Saudi
Arabia due to its notorious
human rights record.
Congress imposed a ban on
arms sales to the kingdom in
light of Khashoggi’s assassination
— a decision later circumvented
by Trump.
POLITICAL CONCERNS
Additionally, both bin Zayed
and Netanyahu were trying to
hand Trump one final achieve-
ment ahead of what proved to be
one of America’s most divisive
elections in recent history.
For Trump’s Jewish support-
ers, there weren’t many better
ways to do so than a historic
peace deal between the Jewish
state and a thriving Arab nation
— a scenario deemed practically
impossible merely a few decades
ago. Israel currently maintains
a “cold peace” with Egypt and
Jordan, without significant tour-
ism or business ties.
A Biden presidency, on the
other hand, was nothing Israel
or Saudi Arabia were particu-
larly enthusiastic about, despite
Netanyahu having praised the
president-elect as “a great friend
of Israel” with whom he has had
“a long and warm personal rela-
tionship.
”
This stems partially from
fears that Biden may seek to
revive the Iran nuclear deal, a
prospect Israel’s former envoy
to Washington Michael Oren
said had a “very high” likelihood
— much to Israel and Saudi
Arabia’s dismay.
PALESTINIANS IGNORED
The Accords evidently reflect
a mobilizing Middle East, in
which shared concerns over Iran
or Turkey, combined with new
business opportunities, have
enabled U.S. allies to close ranks
on their mutual rivals.
These issues have over-
shadowed what used to be
the region’s foremost concern:
Palestinians. Under Netanyahu,
Israel has moved further and
further away from any realis-
tic peace agreement, as West
Bank settlements continue
largely unabated and actions
like moving the U.S. Embassy
to Jerusalem have exacerbated
tensions among Palestinian lead-
ership.
Arab nations have signaled
they, too, believe negotiations
with Palestinians have hit some-
thing of a dead end, and that
there is more to gain by casting
them aside.
Saudi leadership realized that
it was standing at a critical cross-
roads. If it continued to support
the Palestinians and as a result
didn’t advance its own relations
A delegation from the UAE arrived in Israel on October 20, 2020, on a
historic visit, to participate in the signing ceremony of four agreements as
part of the Abraham Accords along with others such as Netanyahu and
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
continued on page 32
COURTESY OF U.S. EMBASSY TO ISRAEL
continued from page 29
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