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Special: This is how the Abrahamic agreements were made Israel today

2021-08-11T21:28:48.908Z


The Netanyahu-Trump meeting, the long attempts at persuasion, and the breaking of American fixation • These are the contacts that led to the historic breakthrough


On February 15, 2017, the White House hosted the first meeting between then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-US President Donald Trump. They had known each other for many years, but now they were both heads of state.

Two years earlier, in the midst of the Obama era, Netanyahu and his advisers had concluded that the region was ripe for peace relations between Israel and the Gulf states.

Contrary to the thesis that has dominated the political discourse in both Israel and the West for decades, they believed that such a development was possible even before a comprehensive agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

Following the shocks of the Arab Spring, the rise of ISIS, the withdrawal of the United States from the Middle East, the reduction of global dependence on oil, the strengthening of Iran from here, the strengthening of Israel from here and Netanyahu's speech in Congress against the nuclear deal - clear messages came to Jerusalem from the Gulf.

The collaborations under the table also expanded.

But the Americans rejected Netanyahu's thesis.

Obama and his secretary of state, John Kerry, actively worked to prevent the breakthrough, in part because they did not want Israel to receive permits from Arab countries without paying in Palestinian currency.

Trump and his advisers, though very sympathetic to Israel, also questioned.

In that first meeting with Trump, Netanyahu mentioned the secret meeting on a ship in the Suez Canal between President Roosevelt and Ibn Saud, the founder of Saudi Arabia.

At that meeting, the alliance between Saudi Arabia and the United States was actually born (although Ibn Saud rejected Roosevelt's request to allow 10,000 Jews to enter Israel).

In this spirit, Netanyahu told his host: "Take us (referring to himself, Muhammad bin Salman, Saudi Crown Prince, and Muhammad bin Zayed, the UAE's regent and de facto ruler) to a ship in the Red Sea, and seat us together with you. It is possible. You will make history. ".

When Trump was convinced

Trump and his entourage doubted.

They had no political experience, and what they knew was the prevailing opinion that there is no order without the Palestinians.

There were also good souls, like the president's friend Ronald Lauder, who visited the White House several times and dripped in his ears that an agreement with the Palestinians is achievable, and that Netanyahu is simply evading.

Trump, as publicly stated, was keen to achieve what he defined as the "deal of the century" on which his peacekeeping team, led by Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt, began to work.

During the two years of formulating the plan they met many in the area.

In these conversations, as the man of confidence descended and the masks fell, it became clear to them where the Gulf states were really heading.

An Israeli official involved in the talks said: "It took them two whole years to be convinced that the Arab rhetoric on the Palestinian issue is mostly a lip service."

He said, "Unlike the Obama people, who were locked in their approach, Kushner and his associates were open-minded. They agreed to hear, and then also to check the direction we suggested."

Tomorrow in "Israel of the Week"

Source: israelhayom

All news articles on 2021-08-11

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