Pak Sahafat – The scope of the surprise operation of Al-Aqsa Storm is reminiscent of the historic attack by Egypt and Syria on Israel during Yom Kippur in October 1973.
According to Pak Sahafat International News Agency, according to the reports published in English and Hebrew media, more than 600 Zionists have been killed and nearly 2,040 wounded during the Al-Aqsa storm operation. 44 of them are Israeli army soldiers. On the other side, more than 527 Palestinians have been martyred and nearly 2,000 wounded. In this situation, to escape the pressure of public opinion, Benjamin Netanyahu accepted Lapid-Gantz’s proposal to form an emergency cabinet and talked about destroying the Gaza strip. Some experts believe that the main purpose of this surprise operation is to ground the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf in order to complete the process of normalizing relations with the Zionist regime.
Has Al-Aqsa storm reduced the chances of Riyadh-Tel Aviv peace?
In the early hours of the Battle of Al-Aqsa Storm, two main views regarding the impact of the war on the future of the normalization of relations between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Zionist regime were formed. The first group believes that due to the high death toll of the Zionist regime, the right-wing cabinet of this regime will attack the Gaza Strip with all its might and start a bloodbath. With the prolongation of the battle and the increase in the number of Palestinian civilian deaths, Riyadh will not be able to convince the public opinion inside the country and the Islamic world for peace with Tel Aviv in the short term. In other words, the political cost of this action will be so high, and the proposal to form “two governments” will no longer be an attractive initiative to establish lasting peace between the Zionist regime and the Palestinians.
The second group, referring to the entry of the opposition into the government and the possible departure of extremist elements such as Ben Guer and Asmutarich from the cabinet, talk about increasing the chances of peace between Riyadh and Tel Aviv. In the eyes of these analysts, one of the obstacles to the formation of Saudi-Israeli peace is the presence of right-wingers in Bibi’s cabinet, but now the prime minister of the regime can gain 68 seats through the emergency cabinet and change the composition of the government. However, it seems that it is still too early to judge in this case and we should wait for the current developments in the region and then comment on this matter.
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“In any case, Saudi Arabia will not stop the process of normalizing relations with Israel, even if they (the Israelis) are not willing to give concessions to the Palestinian side!” This Reuters analysis shows the acceleration of the Riyadh-Tel Aviv peace process in the final months of Joe Biden’s administration.
Before the start of the new round of resistance operations in the occupied territories, Saudi Arabia was preparing the ground for the normalization of relations with Tel Aviv by hosting “Haim Katz” the Minister of Tourism and “Shlomo Karai” the Minister of Communications of the Zionist regime. At the same time, Saudi commanders and security officials and the White House were negotiating a security agreement based on which the United States would commit to protecting Riyadh’s interests inside Saudi Arabia and throughout the Middle East.
Now, with the flare-up of the war in Bariqeh and the possibility of new fronts opening in southern Lebanon or the occupied Golan, the Saudi Foreign Ministry has been forced to issue a statement against the Zionist regime and has demanded the protection of Palestinian civilians during the brutal attacks of the Israeli army. The type of media coverage close to Riyadh, such as Al-Arabiya, also indicates the (temporary) approach of Saudi support for the Palestinian resistance. This change of trend shows that high-ranking Saudi officials are being pressured by the public opinion of the Islamic world.
Some analysts believe that the current events in the occupied territories have another side and can increase the bargaining power of Saudi Arabia to get concessions from the Israelis. For example, Saudi Arabia can demand the privilege of enrichment rights without American supervision, citing the widespread opposition of Muslims. Now, Mohammed bin Salman is on the verge of making a difficult decision regarding the peace process with the Zionist regime.
If “MBS” in the short term (January 2024) intends to pursue concessions from Washington-Tel Aviv, regardless of the rights of the Palestinian people; then he should prepare himself for the anger of the Arab nations and the tarnishing of this country’s image among the public opinion of Islamic countries. This “dangerous gamble” has the potential to even inflame the internal atmosphere of Saudi Arabia and change the position of the crown prince in the kingdom.
The attack of a police officer in Egypt on a bus of Israeli tourists in Alexandria and the killing of two Zionists shows the depth of hatred of Muslims towards the Zionist regime. According to the statistics published by opinion polling centers, more than 80% of Arab nations have the same feeling towards the Zionist regime. Now, after this historic operation, it seems that this number has increased significantly. In such a situation, preparing for the normalization of relations with Israel by ignoring the country’s crimes in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank will entail a heavy cost for Saudi foreign policy. Continuation of this process, while reducing Riyadh’s legitimacy in the Sunni world, will strengthen countries such as Turkey and Qatar, which present themselves as supporters of the Palestinian people in media advertisements. Now we have to wait and see if the current developments in the Arab Middle East will increase the possibility of Riyadh joining the “Abraham Peace” in the coming days and months or not?