Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani, Benjamin Netanyahu, Donald Trump, Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan (L to R)
December 16, 2022
enjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister-designate of Israel, asked USA to re-affirm its alliance with Saudi Arabia and the Abraham Accords, which were designed to create an Arab-Israeli axis to face Iran’s influence, created through its support of terrorist groups in Lebanon, Gaza Strip and Yemen. Even before he succeeds in forming a coalition (on or before December 21, 2022), Netanyahu wants to strengthen and move forward in creating a closer relationship with the Arab world.
He wants to continue the USA-Saudi Arabia-Israel axis rather than a Saudi Arabia-China axis.
China-Russia-Iran form a bloc against USA. Pakistan follows China completely. In fact, the people of Pakistan consider China as a friend whereas they consider USA as the enemy of Islam. Jointly Pakistan and Turkey want to lead the Sunni world, for which Saudi Arabia considers itself as the Leader.
TWO QUESTIONS:
- Will MbS be able to negotiate the complex politics of MENA with the help of China?
- Or will MbS and Saudi Arabia be better off by going with Benjamin Netanyahu and by strengthening the Abraham Accords?
Why did Accords become weaker after Trump’s term as US President?:
When the Accord was first signed on 15th September 2020, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud (MbS), the de-facto ruler of Saudi Arabia in 2020 and the Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia since 27th September 2022, seemed to be in favor of the relationship with USA.
President Trump wanted to sell more American weapons to Saudi Arabia and to encourage it to have closer relations with Israel, so that USA develops a stronger posture in the Arab world. President Trump wanted to reduce US imports from China and wanted to bring manufacturing back to USA. He also emphasized human rights violations in Xinjiang by China.
However, Wokes started playing a major role in policy-making in USA with Biden’s Presidency. The Biden administration criticizes human rights violations in Saudi Arabia and in its war in Yemen. But President Biden wants to have a better working relationship with China by over-looking the human rights violations against Muslims in China.
To weaken the relationship between USA and Saudi Arabia, Xi Jinping visited Saudi Arabia from December 8-10, 2022. He met the entire GCC leadership at Riyadh and signed agreements to develop its trade and tech relationship even further with them. Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud has landed in Beijing on 15 December 2022, on a state visit to China for increasing trade and greater cooperation in satellite technology.
BACKGROUND: President Donald Trump mediated Abraham Accords in his quest for permanent peace in the Middle East. On 15th September 2020, these Accords were initially signed by Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, Foreign Minister of United Arab Emirates and Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani, Foreign Minister of Bahrain. As a part of the Accords, UAE and Bahrain established full diplomatic relations with Israel.
The full name of the Accord is: Abraham Accords Peace Agreement: Treaty of Peace, Diplomatic Relations and Full Normalization Between the United Arab Emirates and the State of Israel and Abraham Accords: Declaration of Peace, Cooperation, and Constructive Diplomatic and Friendly Relations. The name of ‘Abraham Accords’ is because Abraham is respected by the three religions (i.e. Islam, Judaism and Christianity), involved in the Accord. Morocco and Sudan joined the Accord in December 2020 and January 2021 respectively.