Saudi Arabia and Israel: strange bedfellows

Saudi Arabia seeking Israel’s help on Iran: strange bedfellows

West Palm Beach: November, 18, 2013

 

Following Israel’s lead, Saudi Arabia is pressuring Washington to intensify sanctions on Tehran.  To push immediate legislation for new sanctions on Iran, Israel’s hard line friends in the US congress are selling the myth that both Arabs and Jews are united against Iran’s “dangerous” ambitions.

It is amusing to watch Prime Minister Netanyahu incessantly pontificate to the media about a “rare” moment in history where Arabs and Jews are purportedly united in opposing excessive “evil”, Iran’s nuclear weapons. 

An odd display of Gulf-Israeli complicity is being stretched and exploited for undesirable political ends. True, the Sunni Arab Gulf leaders do feel threatened by the risk-prone and overambitious Shiite leadership in Iran, but the Arab Gulf represents no more than ten percent of the Arab world’s 300 million people.  Moreover, it is merely the ailing king of Saudi Arabia and his elite neighbors in the small Arab sheikdoms who wish to see Iran further humiliated at any cost.  There are not many Arabs who are willing to risk exposing their region to a new devastating war over Iran’s ambitions.

Such Machiavellian alliance between two unrelated states is based on an ill conceived notion that continued administration of punishment is bound to yield maximal political results.

For many reasons Iran has few friends in the international community.  But the Islamic Republic should not be demonized; if this obstinate regime is pressured to capitulate the outcome could be very costly for the entire world. The current US, UN and European sanctions have already softened Tehran’s nuclear stance. New leadership in Tehran has offered significant concessions: limited enrichment and full transparency to international inspection. As Tehran tries to mend fences with the West, it should be given the chance to moderate and reform at its own pace.

The next round of the nuclear negotiations between the six world powers and Iran are scheduled to start on November 20.  Israel and Saudi Arabia have no sensible reasons to feel alarmed by the recent dramatic progress made on the negotiating table.

The strange convergence of interests between Riyadh and Tel Aviv reflects a new low in Saudi Arabia’s feeling of insecurity and a new high in Israel’s orchestration of international relations.

Not to trivialize Israel’s rational fears of Iran, it is the way the Jewish state handles these fears- with threats and denial, assuming exceptional status at all times, which is in question. It is hard to imagine a vulnerable state threatening to start a war to avert a war. It is hard to fathom how Israel insists on nuclear “abstinence” for the adversary and full entitlement to possession of same weapon.  In dealing with Washington Israel assumes a posture of a “donor”, not a favored recipient of American aid.

It is hard to understand the logic of Netanyahu’s policy on war and peace. This master of television rhetoric claims that he could not commit to peace with the Arabs as long as the Middle East is in such a state of turmoil. The fact is that a new war between the West and Iran will only add havoc to the region.  

As for Saudi Arabia, it is strange for the lead sponsor of the Mideast peace plan of 2002 to mobilize the Arab Gulf in confronting Iran with such passive aggression.

In mobilizing diplomatically against Iran Saudi Arabia is taking a great risk. The Arab Kingdom is highly dependent on Washington for its military security.  For the Kingdom, to have Israel as a covert partner is risky. In outsourcing its national defense to the West, Saudi Arabia is deepening its long term insecurity and increasing its unpopularity in the Arab and wider Islamic world. The Kingdom is the only state in the world which spends big money to be (politically) invaded.

How could Saudi Arabia claim, as it recently did, to be upset with Washington’s neglect of Palestine and turn to Israel for help on Iran, an Islamic  state which has spent enormous resources, albeit inefficiently and counterproductively, supporting Palestinian resistance?

The Geneva-based meeting of November 20 should be the forum where regional peace could make a start. Forging safe peace terms with Iran will promote understanding on so many pivotal issues and give a boost to a regime in desperate need for societal change from within.

And that artificial Israeli-Saudi embrace looks dangerous.