The surprisingly pro-Israel Saudi media

From Mida:

It’s a known fact that there is no free Arab press – only official or semi-official government newspapers. Of these, the London-based and Saudi-owned al-Sharq al-Awsat is known as a paper expressing the Saudi royal house’s political line. There’s been an interesting trend in the past few weeks in the pages of this important Arab daily: a series of articles with surprising attitudes towards Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict. The articles discuss various aspects of the conflict, but they share a common approach. Even if the articles were not come directly by the Saudi royal house, they were nevertheless published with their consent and do not contradict their political attitude.

Bakir Oweida is a Palestinian publicist based in London. Oweida writes regularly for al-Sharq al-Awsat on a variety of issues. He has been consistently moderate on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; his criticism of the Palestinian leadership is authentic and not just a Saudi diktat. For instance, on the anniversary of Arafat’s death he wrote an article against Abu-Ammar’s legacy.

Now, in a far-reaching article entitled “Palestinian Recognition of Israel’s ‘Jewishness’ – Why Not?”, Oweida calls for nothing less than recognition of Israel as a Jewish State:

Let us assume, for the sake of argument, that there is official Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish State. Well, what will happen afterwards? What will happen the next day? Will an uproar break out in the Arab world, and after them the Muslim world? Or worse, will the ‘Mother of all wars’ break out and Planet Earth burn after atomic bombs are launched from the Dimona warehouses and the Pakistani safehouses?

The political uproar which will break out in the Arab world…if it breaks out, in response to official Palestinian recognition of one of the inventions of Israel’s extremist rulers, that is ‘Israel as a Jewish state’, will not go beyond verbal activity and demonstrations which will fill the streets, and throats going hoarse from shouting.

According to Oweida, recognizing Israel as a Jewish state would actually benefit the Palestinians in negotiations. According to him, from its founding until Benyamin Netanyahu (“the deceiver”), the State of Israel has relied on Palestinian rejectionism to “save it from embarrassment before the countries of the world.” Oweida argues that Israel has greatly benefited from Palestinian rejectionism and their fear of dealing with challenges.

He dismisses the argument that recognition of Israel as Jewish would “open the door to expulsion of Palestinians in Israel to Jordan,” and explains that he doesn’t understand why there is such a great fear of change:

After all, the PLO already recognized Israel in its pre-’67 borders. Therefore, if the Palestinian side agrees to the Israeli demand, thus showing the demanding side (Israel) in a negative light, such a decision would not change what is seen as Palestine, that is the territorial framework, in which all members of the monotheistic faiths will live peacefully.

...

If we’re already on the subject of criticism of the Palestinian leadership, we can’t help but mention the fierce critique of another al-Sharq al-Awsat writer, Huda al-Husseini. Al-Husseini, a professional journalist and commentator, specializes in Iranian and European affairs and also apparently has ties with Saudi intelligence.

In the opening of an article analyzing John Kerry’s involvement in negotiations, she wonders aloud why the world and the Palestinians are silent in light of the horrific hunger in the al-Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in Syria (“there has been no protest or demand to lift the siege by the PA or Hamas”). Palestinian leaders, al-Husseini sarcastically notes, are dealing with bigger problems and believe the al-Yarmouk problem will be solved with the fulfillment of the Right of Return.

As for the negotiations themselves, al-Husseini notes the statements of Saeb Erekat in 2009, in which he admitted that Israel offered it 100% of the territories and that Israel’s position is constantly weakening. Who, then, is not interested in an agreement?, she wonders. After all, most Israelis are interested in the two-state solution.

Then she attacks the rejectionism of the Palestinian leadership, blaming it for the present impasse:

What is taking place in the region after the ‘Arab Spring’ refutes the argument that stability in the Middle East will come through a solution to the Palestinian problem. This problem does not have priority, and there are those who believe the Syrian situation is more serious and important than the Palestinians’ situation.

...At the end of the article, al-Husseini quotes a senior Western official who also expressed his opinion on the Palestinian leadership:

The Palestinians need leaders who live their lives and tribulations and are interested to rescue it in some way. Now on the other hand we see one of their leaders who insists on playing chess every day at 4 PM.

...

As was already mentioned, there is no media outlet in the Arab world that does not serve some political master, and it is therefore no coincidence that no less than four columnists in a leading Arab paper were allowed to express such unconventional opinions. It’s hard to ignore the feeling one gets upon reading the articles: this is a clear Saudi signal to Israel and the West.

We can try and complete the puzzle by looking at Saudi interests in the region...Any way you look at it, everything Saudi Arabian officials see as a threat are also a threat to Israel, and thus both sides’ interests are aligned. This alignment is particularly strong, precisely because there are a number of basic interests and not just the Iranian issue. This is a new situation and there is of course no guarantee that it will last for long, but meanwhile Saudi decision makers have decided to act based on immediate critical interests. This is not a surprise as Saudi Arabia is a master of realpolitik in the fullest sense of the term.

None of this means that the Wahhabi Kingdom is pro-Zionist: it is consistent and clear in its ultimate goal of survival first and foremost. But as such, the Saudi Kingdom is not, and has never been, a radical state. Indeed, we have before us a number of major publicists employed by the Saudis who are very far from radical and who express opinions supporting peace and not the standard anti-Israel vilification common to the Arab media.

Between the lines, the Saudis are sending a clear message of pragmatic conciliation. The appropriate authorities in Israel would do well to heed its call.

Read the whole thing.