Rumors have been circulating of late that senior Israeli officials met with a member of the royal family of Saudi Arabia in an effort to break the Middle East stalemate.
Indication that something was afoot first surfaced in an Israeli newspaper as the war between Israel and the Shiite movement, Hezbollah, was in full swing.
If the idea of Israelis and Saudis meeting may seem strange at first, there is, however, much logic behind such a meeting - if indeed it took place.
The political reality is that Israel and moderate Arab countries share the same preoccupation over Iran's nuclear ambitions. And as everything seems to indicate that Iran will move ahead with its nuclear program, come what may, moderate Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan, look at the Islamic republic's growing influence with great trepidation.
The fact that Iran is a Shiite country does little to soothe the anxieties of the Sunni Muslims. In fact, moderate Sunni Arabs would have not been terribly disappointed had Israel crushed Hassan Nasrallah's militant movement. But that did not happen and now Hezbollah and its secretary-general, Nasrallah, seem to be more powerful than ever.
In a recent show of force Nasrallah gathered some 800,000 supporters for a "victory rally" in Beirut, meant to celebrate Hezbollah's triumph over Israel. The meeting was something of a slap in the face to Israel who tried, unsuccessfully, to eliminate the militant sheikh. In his address to supporters Nasrallah claimed Hezbollah was still in possession of some 20,000 rockets that could be launched against Israel.
While high ranking Saudi officials in Washington, DC denied that such a meeting between Saudis and Israelis had taken place, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Israel's influential Yedioth Ahronoth he was "highly impressed by various moves and statements connected with Saudi Arabia ... I am impressed by King Abdullah's intelligence and sense of responsibility."
And Monday, the same newspaper reported that Olmert had met secretly with a member of the Saudi royal family.
Another Israeli paper, Ha'aretz, quoted unnamed political sources in Jerusalem as initially confirming the main elements of the report. A report published on the newspaper's Website suggested the Saudi official was Prince Bandar Bin Sultan, Saudi Arabia's former ambassador to Washington. Bandar is now the national security advisor. Prime Minister Olmert later denied the meeting took place. But Israeli journalists say the prime minister "was not very convincing."
Saudi security officials told me during a meeting in Saudi Arabia late last year that King Abdullah was convinced of two things: first that since the death of Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser, there was a void of leadership in the Arab world. Saudi's King Abdullah has ambitions to fill that void. And second, the Saudi official told me Abdullah is convinced there could be no permanent solution to the Israeli-Arab dispute so long as the question of Palestine remains unsolved.
It is therefore quite believable that the Saudis would make a move to engage Israel in dialogue.
Abdullah's peace plan - adopted by the Arab League in 2002 during an Arab summit in Beirut - is in fact quite simple. Saudi Arabia offered Israel full recognition and peace by all 22 member states of the Arab league in return for Israel's withdrawal from all territories occupied in 1967.
Ariel Sharon, at the time prime minister of Israel, rejected the offer.
Today, there is all the more urgency to reach a settlement in the Middle East, particularly in the aftermath of the second Lebanon war and in view of Nasrallah's rising star. A popular Hezbollah means more power to its political and military backers, Syria and Iran.
In the aftermath of the 34-day war with Israel, Sayed Hassan Nasrallah is emerging as something of a cult hero in Lebanon and the Arab world, beating the Saudi King for the position of the Arab world's leadership.
Recent polls conducted in Israel found that Nasrallah was more credible to the Israeli public than their own prime minister. And in the nearby Palestinian territories the Shiite leader has surpassed local politicians, including President Mahmoud Abbas in popularity.
Pictures of the turbaned sheikh and his movement's yellow flags have become visible in previously unthinkable locations such as Damascus, where Nasrallah's portrait is sharing space with that of Bashar Al Assad - not a common occurrence in Syria. The great fear for Israel - besides a nuclear-armed Iran - is that Hezbollah's "victory" will incite Palestinian groups such as Hamas to embark on similar endeavors.
And the greatest fear for countries such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan is to see Iran's influence in the region continue to grow. If the Saudi king can pull a rabbit out of his hat and revive the all-but-dead Middle East peace initiative, and actually reach an agreement with Israel, he could very well claim his title of leader of the Arab world.
Claude Salhani is Editor of the Middle East Times. He can be reached at Claude@metimes.com
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