This article appears in the Jerusalem Post today, 2 November
On October 20, under the dramatic headline “Scoop”, on-line news provider Axios posted an exclusive story – details of a conversation held on September 27 between US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS). The information, it told its titillated readers, had reached it from no less than “three US and Arab sources”.
The nub of the story was
that, during their discussion, Sullivan had raised the issue of Saudi Arabia normalizing
relations with Israel, and that MBS had not rejected the idea out of hand.
Their meeting took place
in Neom, the futuristic planned city being constructed on Saudi Arabia's Red
Sea coast. Neom is an integral element in MBS’s Saudi Vision 2030 – his
ambitious plan to reposition Saudi Arabia away from its current dependence on
oil in good time to celebrate the kingdom’s centenary in September 2032. Sullivan may well have wondered whether MBS’s
aspirations for Saudi’s future included signing up to the Abraham Accords.
This is an issue of some
importance for the region. If or when
Saudi Arabia decides on an open normalization with Israel – as opposed to the
covert liaison they currently enjoy – it would be regarded as a major
breakthrough in Arab-Israeli relations, and a step other Muslim nations would
feel able to follow.
Some practical obstacles
would need to be surmounted. The basic
Muslim position regarding Israel is still the Arab Peace Plan, proposed to the
Arab League in 2002 by MBS’s uncle, then Crown Prince Abdullah. It was adopted, and has subsequently been
endorsed twice, by the League.
Normalizing relations with Israel without reference to the Plan would
require justification, which is why Saudi Arabia has so far insisted that
movement on the Israel-Palestinian issue would be an essential prerequisite to
any normalization deal.
Yet the step, if it were
taken, could certainly be defended and explained.
Normalization under the
Abraham Accords is concerned with the pragmatic issues of economic, security,
trade and social cooperation for the benefit of the citizens of their
respective countries. Signing up to them
in no way implies an abandonment of Palestinian aspirations. Indeed all the
current signatories have expressed their continuing support for Palestinian
sovereignty within something akin to the pre-1967 boundaries. They see flourishing cooperation between Arab
states and Israel as an important precursor to peace negotiations and an
eventual Israel-Palestinian deal.
A highly pragmatic consideration may also push Saudi into normalization – the plans announced by MBS ahead of this year’s COP26 Climate Change conference, now being held in Glasgow, Scotland, during the first two weeks of November. On March 27 he unveiled his Saudi and Middle East Green Initiatives – an ambitious effort to lead a full-scale environmental process in the Middle East by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The initiative falls neatly within the compass of his Saudi 2030 Vision, which involves replacing oil-based energy generation with renewable energy sources.
In 2018 Saudi's
electricity supply from renewable sources amounted to some 0.05 percent of the
whole. MBS has pledged that by 2030 no
less than 50 percent of the kingdom's energy consumption will be from renewable
energy, and that it will reach “net zero” greenhouse gas emissions by 2060. Those
are exceedingly ambitious targets, and the nation will need all the help it can
muster to reach them. Israel, an
acknowledged world leader in high tech development across a wide range of
energy and environmental issues, would be an invaluable partner in helping
Saudi Arabia achieve its goals. Perhaps
it was this consideration that led MBS not to reject the idea of normalization
“out of hand”.
Israel’s commitment to
tackling the climate change issue is deadly serious. Life and Environment, the official umbrella
organization of the environmental movement in Israel, brings together over 130
environmental organizations.
On October 17 Israeli media
reported that the government is preparing a national climate emergency
declaration that would oblige all state bodies to coordinate their preparations
for combating climate change. In
addition, it was reported, a climate law is being prepared, the draft of which
is gaining ministerial support. Together,
the declaration and new bill would require all public agencies to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions, establish monitoring and reporting systems, and
prepare for climate emergencies.
These initiatives are in
line with declarations made by President Isaac Herzog on taking office. In his inaugural address in July, he said it was
his personal mission to address the climate crisis. He intended to boost public
and national awareness and cooperate with all sections of Israeli society in
responding to the crisis.
On October 20 Herzog announced the establishment of the Israeli Climate Forum, which will lead deliberations about the climate crisis and Israel’s role in the fight against it. The forum, which will include representatives from across Israeli society, will operate under the auspices of the Office of the President and will convene several times a year. This development, said the President, will underscore Israel’s commitment to stand at the forefront of the global debate about the climate crisis, raise awareness among all parts of Israel’s leadership about its severity, promote collaboration between all sectors in Israeli society, and promote regional and international collaboration to push for a response.
It is clear that
Israel’s coalition government and its President are of one mind and fully
committed to tackling this existential problem.
The Israel delegation currently at COP26 in Glasgow is second in size
only to that of the US. Israel’s serious
and focused approach may help persuade other less committed countries to take
more urgent action. In the case of Saudi
Arabia, and perhaps several other Gulf nations, it may provide the final push to
enter into a working relationship with the partner best able to help them reach
the targets they have set themselves in tackling the issues affecting the
future of Planet Earth itself.
Published in the Jerusalem Post, 2 November 2021, and in the Jerusalem Post on-line as "Saudi normalization with Israel could be a major breakthrough" on 1 November 2021:
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/saudi-normalization-with-israel-could-be-a-major-breakthrough-opinion-683743
https://mpc-journal.org/wp-admin/post.php?post=12904&action=edit
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