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

ERETZ
ON THE COVER
ERETZ
ON THE COVER

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