By: Sadeq Hosseini, published in Persian: Etemad Newspaper, Published in English: MNA. // The Saudis have been helping the Israelis and Americans in their plots against the Palestinians since the Yom Kippur war in 1973 to date that they are brokering the US peace plane for the Palestine or the so-called the ‘Deal of the Century’.
۱۹۷۳ Ramadan (Yom Kippur) war
It all began with Yom Kippur war or Ramadan war in October 1973 when the Americans within the framework of ‘Operation Nickel Grass’ gave the Israelis 800 million worth of weapons to convince Israel not to use atomic bombs.
After the ‘Operation Nickel Grass’ was implemented, the Arab members of OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) along with Syria and Egypt began an oil embargo and stopped oil sales to countries backing Israel. As a result, the oil prices went up from $ 3 to $ 12 bpd.
The Yom Kippur war had great impact on world politics and economy. After the war ended and the 1973 oil crisis began when the OPEC members proclaimed an oil embargo, the US President Richard Nixon approached the Saudi government with the aim of putting an end to the oil embargo. The Americans threatened the Saudis they would seize their properties and would occupy their country if they joined any next embargo oil embargo.
After the Yom Kippur war and the assassination of Saudi King Faisal in 1975, who supported the oil embargo, the Saudi government adopted a different approach and accompanied the US administration in opposition to the Iran’s attempts to push the oil prices up.
After the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979, the US foreign policy further got closer to Saudi Arabia. Then the Saudis adopted the policy of strengthening the religious extremists in Afghanistan against at the advice of the Americans and with the help of the Pakistani intelligence service ISI and the US CIA.
The 9 years of occupation of Afghanistan distracted attention from the Palestinian issue.
Saudis’ normalization of ties with Israel
While the Saudis use religion to keep their control over their people and in their Friday Prayers, the Saudi Imams always pray to God for the liberation of the Holy Quds, they accompany the United States to secure their own survival.
It is Iran not Saudi Arabia that has become the unparalleled hero of the Islamic world with its smart diplomacy. Tehran has won the hearts of the Muslims in the Middle East without spending any money.
The Saudi rulers got closer to Israel as they are historically afraid of Iran. The Iran nuclear deal with world powers further scared the Saudis and pushed them closer towards the Israelis in their campaign against the JCPOA.
Now, the incumbent US President Donald Trump appears to have convinced the Saudi King Salman and Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman to revise their policy on the Palestinian issue.
The Saudis are cooperating with Israelis and Americans in the US peace plane for the Palestine or the so-called the ‘Deal of the Century’ with the aim of settling the Palestinian issue and putting an end to Iran’s influence in the Muslim world.
The U-turn in Saudi policy towards Israel and the Palestinian issue was clear when the Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman said last year in an interview with Atlantic that ‘I believe the Palestinians and the Israelis have the right to have their own land.” He is said to have met with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu last year in a meeting that was also attended by Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, which is in charge of the implementation of the ‘Deal of the Century’.
‘Deal of the Century’
The normalization of relations with Israel is the last card that Saudis can play in the Palestinian issue.
After all the failures in their support for the religious extremists and the destruction of the Muslim countries such as Syria, Iraq and Yemen, the Saudis are going to complete their failures with the ‘Deal of the Century’.
They do not want to see that reality that the ‘Deal of the Century’ is just in favor of Israel and does not meet the Palestinians’ demands, therefore it is doomed to fail.
The show must go on: The US security in exchange for Saudi oil.