Columnist Calls for Peace With Israel
The former head of Saudi intelligence services Turki al Faisal said that Hamas was responsible for “the crimes Israel has committed in the Gaza Strip,” according to a report by Israeli news website NRG.
In an interview quoted Sunday from Asharq Al-Awsat, a pan-Arab newspaper based in London, Faisal said that “Hamas is responsible for the slaughter in the Gaza Strip following its bad decisions in the past, and the haughtiness it shows by firing useless rockets at Israel, which contribute nothing to the Palestinian interest. The Hamas rockets pose no threat to the Israeli occupation, even when they reach Tel Aviv.”
Faisal further blamed Qatar and Turkey for their mediation efforts, saying that instead of preventing Israel from destroying Gaza, these two countries were destroying Egypt’s leadership role in the Arab world. He also attacked the US and Europe for giving Israel the diplomatic credit to continue its campaign.
Earlier over the weekend, an influential Saudi wrote an op ed published by Al Arabiya headlined “Peace with Israel is the solution.”
The author, Mohammed al Sheikh, comes from a family which traces its roots back to the Wahabbi founders of the kingdom. Members of the family were imams, muftis and ministers in the Saudi government.
In his article, cited by Israeli news site Ynet, Sheikh said only peace will gain the Palestinians a state, since at war Israel has total advantage.
Sheikh further mocks Iran’s threats since 1979 to erase “the little devil” and “the Shi’ite of Lebanon” Hassan Nasrallah, who sent his Hezbollah troops to fight the Syrian people instead of Israel. The Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas “sacrificed the Palestinians in false hopes of liberation.”
Several weeks ago, a Saudi intellectual, Abdallah Hamid a Din, wrote in Al Hayat that Israel cannot be forcefully defeated. In his words, the Palestinians have been missing opportunities since 1947, and all the while Israel grows stronger while the Palestinians weaken and their territory shrinks. Hamid said many of the Palestinians’ demands were unrealistic, like the right of return for refugees, which he compared to an Indian demand to return native Americans to cities in the US.
According to Dr. Yaron Friedman, the author of the Ynet article, Saudi Arabia feels threatened by the rise of Iran and the Shi’ite axis, and the calls from within it for peace with Israel come on the heels of Israel’s other peace agreements with Jordan and Egypt and its normalization with Morocco and Mauritania, all moderate Sunni states.
Why would Sisi want Dahlan AND if Sisi wants dahlan then probably saudi also wants dahlan? How would Israel view Dahlan in Gaza?
this is a first, obviously the GCC and Israel are with one voice and i have been saying this for a long time. this is not a sudden development these Israel GCC understandings have been ongoing since before pillar of defense and affect all Israels decisions wrt the pals and the sunni jihad agianst Irans shia proxies. This must be a factor in the gaza situation that is considered by BB. This may explain what is usually strange and unexplained.
The question presents that if there are Israel GCC understandings, which of course include egypt the GCC proxy, then in what ways would that affect BB’s conduct of the war in Gaza. My opinion is that the GCC want Abbas in and Hamas deposed and toward that end want Abbas to be politically strengthened from the gaza war. They like the west want a unity gov to emerge that accepts the PA Israel agreements and leads to the arab peace plan. The question is where does BB stand? Since he is in full agreement with PA taking over borders of gaza I assume he is in agreemnt with the GCC position. If so, and the outcome is predictable, then BB likely recognizes the unnecessary cost of soldiers lives if fighting longer will not amount in anything more than the PA taking over gaza and gaza being demilitarized as per existing PA Israel agreements.
Kerry’s diplomatic blunder has become a blessing in disguise for Israel. There is now a consensus for disarming Hamas in so may countries and open support by US Congress for Israel.
The divisions between Sunni and Shiites and among Palestinian functions also works in favor of Israel.
@ Bill Levinson:
To be fair to the Saudis, they have long seen Hamas/the MB as a problem. The Saudis (or at least the Royals) have exactly the same four enemies that Israel does – Hamas/MB, Hezbollah, ISIS/al-Qaeda and Iran.