Trump-Netanyahu- Ibn Salman Summit

Written by Nasser Kandil,

When the source of news is a site that is known of its professional credibility as “Middle East Eye” and when the same news has been published by the Zionist Ma’ariv newspaper, then it is no longer a rumor. At the worst situations it is a deliberate leakage in order to know the reactions, it is carried out by a balanced party that has the ability to access to these influential sites, and what it asks for publishing is taken seriously. The issue is that the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman has shown his willingness to meet the US President Donald Trump and the Prime Minister of the occupation entity Benjamin Netanyahu under the title of discussing the challenges in the region.

The assumptions posed by the news varied between two issues; the first one is Will Bin Salman dare to declare his consent of considering Jerusalem a capital of Israel and a title of the deal of century, and upon that he will call the Palestinian, Arab, and Islamic leaderships to deal with this matter as a Saudi position? The second issue is Will Trump and Netanyahu dare to hold a meeting with Mohammed Bin Salman without this condition, in the light of the charges which he was accused of, and will this meeting be available in the light of the difficult circumstances faced by Trump and Netanyahu in the American and Israeli political institutions?

The most important question stems from the assumption if Mohamed Bin Salman is ready to declare publicly that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and if Trump and Netanyahu accept to meet him to get this precious prize which was worth a lot in the past, what will be the effect of this declaration, and will he succeed to infiltrate the Palestinian street in order to get advocates of the Saudi position, those who will constitute an important Palestinian group that allows launching a practical track in favor of a Palestinian – Israeli settlement that based on the conditions of the Israeli security?

Absolutely the answer is negative, this is what the Israeli journalists and analysts say. The Palestinians have chosen their way clearly from Gaza to Jerusalem to the West Bank to the occupied territories in 48. Saudi Arabia has lost its Palestinian influence; In other words, the fate of any Palestinian leadership that responds to the Saudi demand would be the isolation unless it is not the killing. Therefore, the announcement of Bin Salman who is no longer has any influence on the Palestinians will turn into a media gain to Trump and Netanyahu even if this announcement has public political procedures between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and even if these relations are important to Israel, and dangerous on Arabs and Islam, they will remain fruitless unable to launch an Arab- Islamic track as the bet on the deal of the century. Furthermore, the outcome of these procedures will depend on Bin Salman’s ability to stay in power,  and maybe this will be one of the factors that will contribute in his fall, because there is a big difference between leading a path that is accepted by the Palestinians and an understanding between Saudi Arabia and Israel without resolving the Palestinian cause  in the light of Bin Salman’s faltering position towards the American political inner life and what is going on in the West towards his criminalization and prosecution.

Trump and Netanyahu will be as a temporary lifeline to Bin Salman if they accepted to hold the summit, but this meeting will be as a gallows to Trump, so it seems likely that Trump will suggest a bilateral summit that brings Bin Salam and Netanyahu together which he only supports and maybe he will receive them together later. At the very difficult situation lived by Netanyahu and Bin Salman, they will ask each other what justifies the meeting during his miserable internal situation, knowing that what each one will offer will increase his bad situation since they all smuggled in mud where the more they dig the more they will drown.

Translated by Lina Shehadeh,