The Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed ben Salman (MBS) has caused wide controversy about the nature of his future monarchy –Saudi Kingdom– when he one day succeeds his father. He attracted attention through a series of actions and remarks that were seen by many as a coup on the Saudi, Arab and Islamic traditions.
Monitors and analysts considered MBS as an ignorant and unaware about the principles of his country, as well as the principles of the Arab and Islamic diplomacy. However, this overambitious prince started his political life with the formation of the Saudi-led coalition and interference in Yemen, which turned the country into piles of rubble and turned the Yemenis into the most starving nation in the world with a very high toll of deaths among civilians and several epidemics that claimed thousands of lives and is still continuous in his violent crackdown on reformers and oppositions inside his own country.
He has also carried out at least one secret visit to Israel and met several Israeli officials inside and outside Israel and the latest of his wonders is recognising the Israelis the right to live in the occupied Palestine and announced that the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas a terrorist organisation.
Zionists have the right to expel Palestinians
In a lengthy interview with Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic, which was published last week, MBS stated that both “the Palestinians and the Israelis have the right to have their own land.” Like any other nations, the Palestinians have the right to live on their own land. This is not something to thank him for because this right had been recognised by the international law and international organisations immediately after they Palestinians were forced out of their homes and land.
But, what about the Israelis, who have been living in other nation’s land that they occupied 70 years ago? They massacred part of the indigenous residents and forcefully expelled another part of them and resided in their homes. They changed the identity of those who remained home and imposed the occupation’s citizenship on them. Simply, MBS gave the Zionists the right to expel the Palestinians!
MBS claimed that there are shared interests between his kingdom and Israel. Here, he is literally materialising the principles of the real Saudi diplomacy and following the footsteps of all of the officials of the Saudi royal family, but this man does not sit behind closed doors when he deals with the Israeli issue and the American and Zionist projects in the Middle East.
The Saudi crown prince heard the US President Donald Trump saying that Saudi Arabia is just like “a milk cow” and he would slaughter it when its milk runs out. He must have heard him saying that it is logical to have a love relation with a rich country and this love would end when the money finishes. But MBS calculated it very well and decided to remove all competitors in the line to the throne out of his way. Therefore, he decided to satiate the US and Israeli desires overtly before everyone’s eyes and beside paying billions of dollars to Trump, he might have slept in that bed but sensitive affairs must have been taken place in the dark. He is not that crazy to burn all of his cards.
History of Saudi royals
In a very swift look at the history of the Saudi relations with the US and Israel, we will become sure that MBS did not deviate the legacy of the family of Al-Saud. After the 1967 Israeli war during which Israel occupied large swathes of the Arab lands, Saudi Arabia called for the Arab League to convene and that happened in September the same year. The resolutions of the Saudi-led summit did not recognise Israel, but did not rule out diplomatic and political efforts, Gawdat Bahgat from the Middle East Policy Council says. The resolutions also did not mention the military force as the exclusive method to liberate the occupied Arab territories.
This was a prelude for a peaceful future regarding the relationship with Israel. This did not see any change even when the Arab states announced their anger with Egypt when it signed a peace agreement with Israel because they later on regained their relations and unanimously recognised and supported the Palestinian Authority, which came to existence after recognising Israel and conceding more than 78 per cent of the historic Arab land of Palestine. When Jordan signed the peace deal, most of the Arab nations commended it.
So that, when MBS recognition of the right of the Israelis to live in their land, which is occupied Palestine, is not something out of the context of the principles of the Palestinian, Arabic and Islamic diplomacy. If we look at the Arab Peace Initiative, which originally was a Saudi proposal, we see that the Saudi diplomacy had recognised Israelis right to live in occupied Palestine because this is the core of the Arab Peace Initiative.
Regarding his meetings with Israeli officials and pro-Israeli lobbies during his two-week tour in the United State, he did nothing new. He literally followed the footsteps of the seniors of his royal family. The only difference was that he did all what he wanted before the cameras, but the other royals did everything behind the camera.
After presenting these points, will we see a new declaration that supports Israel’s existence in the Arab land of Palestine from an Arab leader after 100 years of the notorious Balfour declaration, which has been criticised by the Arabs? Let’s see when MBS, whose affection with Israel has removed all obstacles lied in his way to the throne, becomes a king!
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