The US website “HuffPost” revealed that the US administration is still working to conclude the normalization deal between the Israeli occupation and Saudi Arabia, exposing the continued Saudi normalization path with the Israeli entity.
Top White House official Brett McGurk is quietly floating a controversial plan to reconstruct Gaza after Israel’s assault concludes, HuffPost has learned, in parallel with the establishment of Israel-Saudi ties which were suspended following the Aqsa Flood operation.
The paper pointed to the serious concerns from some officials inside the administration that it would sow the seeds for future instability in the region.
McGurk’s plan would use the incentive of aid for reconstruction from Saudi Arabia and possibly the United Arab Emirates to pressure both the Palestinians and the Israelis, per the officials.
In this vision, Palestinian leaders would agree to a new government for both Gaza and the occupied West Bank and to ratchet down their criticisms of Israel, while Israel would accept limited influence in Gaza.
However, the paper emphasized that there are some challenges to the plan, given that Saudi Arabia would find it hard to publicly embrace Israel without being able to say that it helps the Palestinians and that Arab solidarity with Palestinians has been growing after the Israeli bloody genocide in the Gaza Strip in recent months.
“Jerusalem Jeddah Charter Plan”
The document references a preliminary deal called “the Jerusalem-Jeddah Pact,” HuffPost revealed. However, the bid would likely face serious challenges given Arab solidarity with Palestinians and Saudi stature as the most influential country in the Muslim-majority world amid calls to cut any ties with Israel over its conduct in Gaza.
Beyond the McGurk gambit’s questionable chances of winning real Palestinian backing, the bid would likely face serious challenges
“They really think they can utilize the reconstruction portion of this to ease the pain of normalizing with Saudi,” the paper said, referring to the wariness of the Saudi public over a deal with Israel and the prospect of pro-Palestinian activism scuttling the agreement. “They want to show that Israel is giving more than they have before.”
A recently conducted poll of Saudis by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy found that nearly 96% believe Arab states should cut any ties with Israel over its conduct in Gaza, and Saudi Arabia has long maintained that it will not establish ties with Israel unless the Israelis permit the establishment of a Palestinian state.
