(Council on Foreign Relations) Elliott Abrams - As part of its efforts to promote an Israeli/Palestinian peace plan, there are reports that the administration asked the Saudis to permit overflights of Saudi Arabia by El Al and have some public meetings with Israeli officials. The problem is that the Saudis are right now getting the military and intelligence cooperation they want from Israel. Public collaboration with Israel or concessions to it would be politically dangerous for the Saudi government, at a moment when its plate is full. So the cooperation between Israel and Saudi Arabia will likely continue, and deepen, but a great leap forward is highly unlikely. The Trump administration was counting on Saudi and pan-Arab desire to help the Palestinians and the "peace process," but that was an over-estimation of the degree of Arab official concern about the Palestinians. The writer, a senior fellow at the CFR, handled Middle East affairs at the U.S. National Security Council from 2001 to 2009.
2017-11-20 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive