Quo Vadis

For John, BLUF:  Where we are going in the Middle East is not clear.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Condition Palestinians Should Be Required To Meet Before Biden Restores Relations

Here is the sub-headline:

Keep The Commitments They Made But Never Fulfilled

From The Lid, by Messrs Moshe Phillips And Jeff Dunetz, 9 March 2021.

Here is the lede plus two:

Biden administration officials have indicated that they intend to restore some aspects of the U.S. relationship with the Palestinian Authority (PA) that the previous administration suspended in the near future.  The PA is anxious for a resumption of American financial and diplomatic support.  But what should Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas be required to do in order to merit a renewal of relations?

Although I represent a right-of-center Zionist organization, Herut North America, I don’t agree with those on the right who say that Abbas should be required to make a new commitment or gesture in order to resume relations with the United States.  I think Abbas should merely be required to honor the commitments and promises he has already made in the 1993-1995 Oslo Accords.  Is that really so much to ask?

Middle East policy experts constantly say there is not enough trust between Israel and the PA.  They’re right.  The reason most Israelis — and also most American Jews — have so little trust in the PA is because Yasser Arafat, chairman of the PA from 1994 until he died in 2004, and his deputy, Abbas, made a series of written promises in the Oslo Agreements of 1993-1995.  The Palestinians killed the Oslo Accords before the ink on Yasser Arafat’s signature was dry.

Yes, I think living up to the Oslo Accords would be a good confidence building measure.  The authors of this piece do not think it is happening.

Keep in mind that a failure to settle this discord could result in the United States having to open its arms to some 7 million Israelis refugees.  The alternative is another Holocaust, or, the End Times.

I do wonder if the Trump Administration's Abraham Accords will be the basis for moving forward, or will be left by the side of the road?  And where are we going with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  We seem to be kicking them to the side of the road.

He is an approach from Ms Annelle Sheline, a research fellow for the Middle East at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.  It was published in Politico, on 26 February 2021:

Biden should help support Saudi Arabia in this transition. But to avoid the Iran model, i.e., Saudi Arabia going through a violent revolution and 40 years of hostility toward the U.S., Biden should support Saudi normalization, despite MBS’ murderous despotism.

For sure, making an enemy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will not make Iran like us any more.&nbp; Do we really wish to make enemies of everyone in the Middle East, with no visible payoff.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff