TEL AVIV (Agencies): In the footsteps of Egypt, Jordan, the United ArabEmirates, Bahrain and Sudan, Israeli officials are now expecting the mainprize: a treaty with Saudi Arabia. Officials in Jerusalem and Washingtonalike are hinting heavily that the Saudis are nearing a decision torecognize Israel. With that, there are still no assurances Saudi Arabiawill join Sudan, which this weekend became the fifth Arab nation to declarethe establishment of peaceful relations with Israel.
According to assessments in Jerusalem and Washington, Saudi Crown PrinceMohammad Bin-Salman wants normalization with Israel, but his father, KingSalman, is blocking the initiative for the time being. Regardless, allsigns indicate that the treaties with the UAE and Bahrain were greenlightedby Riyadh.
By all accounts, it did so mainly because the Gulf states want to create adiplomatic-security bloc against Iran under the patronage of US PresidentDonald Trump. The goal is also to help Trump get re-elected and to createfacts on the ground just in case Joe Biden wins the US election.
Sudan, formerly a pro-Iranian country, announced it would open talks withIsrael to secure a peace agreement. It will become the third country tojoin the Abraham Accords framework initiated by the Trump administration.In the coming days, delegations from both countries are expected to meetpublicly to tangibly advance normalization.
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“We are changing the map of the Middle East,” said Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu. “We will fly east, over Saudi Arabia to Bahrain and India, whichwill save a lot of time and money. Israel was isolated: We were told wewere facing a diplomatic tsunami, and the exact opposite transpired. I amsaying here and now — more countries will sign treaties with Israel.”
In a conference call on Saturday with Netanyahu and Sudan’s SovereignCouncil President Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Sudanese Prime MinisterAbdalla Hamdok, Trump said, “There are many, many more [peace deals]coming.” At a press conference at the White House, the US president thankedthe countries’ leaders, saying the peace deal was a tremendous achievementof courageous leadership.
