Maof

Americans fail to understand that Saudis have plans of their own for Mideast Published:  03.05.07, 00:08 / Israel Opinion
 
During the Gulf War, while serving as Israel's ambassador to Washington, the Americans hooked me up with a battalion of bodyguards that accompanied me throughout the war. I sighed with relief when the bodyguards were removed at the end of the war, but the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the US, Bandar bin Sultan, didn't feel the same way; he called his friend at the White House, President Bush (senior,) and demanded that the bodyguards continue to accompany him.

After 22 years in Washington, Bandar returned to his homeland, and although at first it seemed as though he had not been missed, within a short time he was managing Saudi foreign affairs, particularly with the US. His close ties with the Bush family did not only amount to an understanding of strategic issues but was also manifested through large scale arms deals. According to his own testimony, Bandar was involved "in almost every step the US has taken in the Middle East."

When the incumbent President Bush began his election campaign, Ambassador Bandar met with him to brief him on Mideast affairs, including the Israeli-Palestinian issue (judging by the results, at least concerning our own affairs, his briefing was less effective than the one I gave the president at the time.)

I recalled this incident in wake of the news relating to Bandar's intensive activities regarding both the Iranian and Lebanese issues, as well as the Israel-Palestinian issue. Whether the initiative originated in Washington or in Riyadh, the American Administration recently decided to support Saudi Arabia - to a large extent instead of Egypt - in taking an active role in diplomatic developments in our region.
 

More urgent problems.

Yet Saudi Arabia has plans of its own, and they do not always tie in with Washington's plans. The most serious deviation relates to the Palestinian issue. Bush had hoped that the Saudi involvement and Bandar's active mediation in consolidating the Mecca deal would lead to the "taming" of Hamas and to the establishment of a Palestinian state based on the Quartet's conditions, but the exact opposite occurred: The one who was tamed was Mahmoud Abbas, and none of the Quartet's conditions were met.

Moreover, Hamas' leadership was quick to tell the world that it would not recognize Israel's right to exist. And according to the New York Times, The agreement reached via Saudi mediation in fact torpedoed the three-way summit attended by Ehud Olmert, Condoleezza Rice and Mahmoud Abbas.

Washington apparently didn't understand that Bandar and the Saudis had their own objectives and interests: They didn't want to isolate Hamas, but rather, to bring it closer to them (including through the use of money,) in order to undermine the ties that began forming between Sunni terror organizations and Shiite Iran. Hamas is perhaps radical but at least it is Sunni (the Saudi regime is no less fundamentalist than Hamas after all.)

What really concerns the Saudi leadership is the rise in Shiite power in the Middle East, including internally, and their fears are reinforced with every additional day of fighting in Iraq, where the Shiites have the upper hand.

It's not that the Saudi royal family is not eager to solve the Israeli-Palestinian problem, particularly if it comes at Israel's expense, but it has more urgent problems to attend to.

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