Emad Mekay
IBA Middle East, no date
“The biggest game changer may be the almost certain ascent of the 31-year old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the Saudi throne.”
As countries in the Middle East move to re-position themselves to face new perceived threats, a major new alliance, and one previously considered implausible, appears to be emerging. The conservative Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is signalling it can strike an unprecedented peace deal with Israel, a country that is still known in some Saudi books as the ‘Zionist Enemy’.
The region is abuzz with slogans for the new deal but nothing captures what’s going on as well as ‘the deal of the century’, a phrase coined by Egyptian General-turned-President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi and extensively adopted by Arab media. The idea is that all Arab nations will finally become allies with Israel, bringing peace to the previously tumultuous region.
At the heart of the new deal is Saudi Arabia, now having surpassed Egypt as the Arab countries’ uncontested leader, backed with soft-power and vast, oil-generated coffers.
Limiting threats
Recently, Saudi Arabia has made the shift to limit the threats it faces to no more than two enemies: Iran and Sunni Islamist political opposition. These happen to be seen as the two threats facing Israel as well. This has brought both countries to an unlikely alliance. In the words of an influential member of the Al Saud ruling family, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, ‘For the first time, Saudi Arabian interests and Israel are almost parallel… It’s incredible.’
Iran and Saudi Arabia are already engaged in a cold war across the Middle East. Israel is rattled at the prospect of a nuclear Iran. Saudi Arabia sees combating organised Islamist opposition as a priority, especially after their Arab Spring successes. Israel shares the same concerns as the country fears a repeat of the Arab Spring could lead to Islamist governments taking over from current unpopular regimes and later gaining control of vast military resources.
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