RIYADH: Traditional fault lines are changing at a ferocious pace in the ‘troubled, unstable’ Middle East.

Saudi Arabia _ the GCC kingpin _ is taking the lead in this ongoing political re-engineering. Roles are being swapped. Israel is no more an adversary, while, the Palestinian leadership is now being viewed in Riyadh and some other Gulf capitals not only as a political liability but also as the spoiling party.

This is a major transformation.

For the first time since its inception, Arab News, the leading Saudi English newspaper, carried last week the report of Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu presenting ‘details of the covert Iranian nuclear programme’ as its lead story. And Bibi’s photograph adorned the front page too.

This was history in the making. And the story doesn’t end there.

Earlier, Israel’s Channel 10 News reported that at a meeting with Jewish leaders in New York last month, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman castigated the Palestinian leadership for rejecting opportunities for peace with Israel for decades, insisting they should either start accepting peace proposals or “shut up”.

Citing multiple sources, the Israeli channel quoted what it said were remarks made by the Saudi crown prince at the meeting that left those present there “staggered” by the ferocity of his criticism of the Palestinians.

“For the past 40 years, the Palestinian leadership has missed

opportunities again and again, and rejected all the offers it was given,” multiple sources present at the meeting quoted Prince Mohammad bin Salman as saying at the meeting.

Last month, while still in the US, the crown prince had clearly stated that the state of Israel has a right to exist. In an interview given to Jeffrey Goldberg, the chief editor of The Atlantic, the prince had underlined that Israelis and Palestinians have a right to exist in their own land. “I believe that each people, anywhere, has a right to live in their peaceful nation. I believe the Palestinians and the Israelis have the right to have their own land,” the crown prince told the interviewer.

His statement was seen by many as attesting further to the informal warming of relations between Jerusalem and Riyadh.

But some people felt the statement as extending recognition to the state of Israel by Saudi Arabia – without getting anything in return for the Palestinians. This was bound to generate ripples.

To counter that, immediately afterwards, King Salman had to issue an explanation, underlining that the Saudi support to the Palestinian cause remains intact.

Other Gulf countries also appear to be getting cosy to Tel Aviv. Qatar always had a link with Israel for decades now. Bahrain, in recent past, has received distinguished visitors from Israel. Oman also has had a history of relations with Israel.

And in the meantime, the secretary general of the Makkah-based Muslim World League, Mohammad Al Issa, a former Saudi justice minister, while on a visit to the US decried those who blame Jews for the Holocaust, only days after Palestinian Authority President

Mahmoud Abbas came under international censure for doing so. “To reduce the importance of this disaster (Holocaust) by saying excuses that would make us look away from this disaster is a continuation of the denial of the criminality of this incident, this crime against humanity,” Al Issa said on Thursday at an event organised by the

Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

All these events are interconnected – pointing to the emerging, new, alliances in the region. As per press reports, the beleaguered Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was also summoned to Riyadh last November and was asked to either accept an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal being put together by the Trump administration or resign.

Israel’s Channel 10 reported then; Abbas was called unexpectedly to Riyadh by the office of the powerful Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and was specifically told to “accept Trump’s peace plan (when it is presented) or quit”, and to ensure that members of his administration stay away from any Iranian influence and cut ties with Hezbollah.

With Iran as the common enemy, Arab countries are getting closer to Israel.

Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state in the George W. Bush administration, tried her hand at it, endeavouring to form a loose group of six GCC countries, Egypt and Israel as a co-opted member of the group, to counter the ‘rising’ Iranian influence in the region. But with the Arab street not ready for the shift, the move did not go too far.

Now the project seems moving at a rapid pace. New fault lines in the Middle East are giving rise to new associations and blocs – ushering in a new era in the region.

If and when the Arab street accepts this re-engineering – is still to be seen.

Published in Dawn, May 7th, 2018