Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that he does not personally care about what he referred to as the "Palestinian issue", according to a report in The Atlantic.Published on Wednesday, the report gave a picture of 11 months of Washington's negotiation efforts in the region after the outbreak of war in Gaza, citing "two dozen participants at the highest levels of government in America and across the Middle East".It stated that during a visit to Saudi Arabia in January, Blinken and the crown prince met in the Saudi city of al-Ula to discuss the prospect of the Gulf kingdom normalising relations with Israel amid the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza.According to The Atlantic, Blinken enquired whether the Saudis could tolerate Israel periodically re-entering the territory to strike the besieged Gaza Strip.“They can come back in six months, a year, but not on the back end of my signing something like this,” Mohammed bin Salman responded.“Seventy percent of my population is younger than me,” the crown prince explained to Blinken.“For most of them, they never really knew much about the Palestinian issue. And so they’re being introduced to it for the first time through this conflict. It’s a huge problem. Do I care personally about the Palestinian issue? I don’t, but my people do, so I need to make sure this is meaningful.”
There is indirect evidence that this is true.
For example, the (Saudi) Arab News interview I previously mentioned with Lebanon's health minister, the interviewer Katie Jensen pushed hard on Hezbollah's responsibility for the war in Lebanon.
But another story I looked at today may also shed some light.
Sheikh Mohammad Ali Al-Husseini is a Shiite cleric who used to be part of the anti-Israel resistance in Lebanon who worked together with Hassan Nasrallah. The two had a falling out and Husseini was arrested, but eventually released. He ended up going to Saudi Arabia where he eventually was granted citizenship, a rare honor for only those who have helped Saudi Arabis in a huge way.
Husseini is now considered a moderate who seeks dialogue with Jews.
Husseini is in a unique position where he can say things that would normally be considered outrageous to the general Sunni Arab public but he can get away with it as a Shiite. Just like Iranian media will try to avoid direct antisemitism but will eagerly interview American or British antisemites, Saudi Arabia may be using Husseini as a means to float ideas to see what kind of reaction they get.
It seems highly unlikely that Husseini would publicly say anything that the Saudi Crown prince would disagree with. He is a popular guest on interview shows in Saudi Arabia.
So when you goes through Husseini's Facebook page, you see that he says that Jerusalem has no holiness under Shiite Ja'afari thought.
By examining the narrations and hadiths relied upon in the Ja'fari school of thought, we found no definitive evidence or authentic narration proving that Jerusalem (the Dome of the Rock) holds special sanctity in our school. The absence of such narrations confirms its lack of consideration as one of the religious sanctuaries, as it might be in other schools of thought.Furthermore, there is no report from the Imams of Ahl al-Bayt (The House of the Prophet, peace be upon them) indicating any virtue for Jerusalem (the Dome of the Rock). The narrations filled with great virtues for Jerusalem are all through narrators other than ours.ConclusionFrom the above, it becomes clear that Jerusalem (the Dome of the Rock) does not enjoy a legitimate basis that confirms its sanctity within the Ja'fari school of thought. This does not mean that we diminish its historical and cultural status, but here we are discussing what is well-known among the Ja'fari jurists, urging Muslims to adhere to sound religious principles and not be swayed by myths or traditions that lack a clear Sharia basis.We emphasize: there is no particular sanctity for Jerusalem (the Dome of the Rock), and it is problematic for any movement by followers of the Ja'fari school towards Jerusalem, and any slogan or action or banner raised for Jerusalem and blood shed for Jerusalem or on the way to Jerusalem is a Sharia issue and a heresy without a Sharia basis according to the prominent jurists of Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them). This is what was stated in the responses to the legal inquiries we sent to the authorities, and their response was: "There is no religious consideration for the Dome of the Rock, and we did not find in the narrations of Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them) anything indicating its importance" and another response: "The Dome of the Rock has no special sanctity according to us."Thus, Jerusalem holds no sanctity for us, and we see that the rock of the dome has no consideration or status in Islam.
He writes about Nasrallah and how close they were, expressing sadness that he chose to be more loyal to Iran than to the Arab nation. He talks about terrorism. He talks about Lebanon.
But I could not find a single negative word about Israel.
This is almost unbelievable - in Arab media, one is expected to denounce Israel as routine. I don't see that here.
Given how much the Saudis have detested Hezbollah and Iran over the years, it seems likely that they are just waiting for the war to end, then wait a few more months, in order to establish relations with Israel as they had planned to before the war.
|
Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. Read all about it here! |
|
