Saudi Arabia normalized their relationship with Iran, following a momentous Chinese brokered deal signed in Beijing in March 2023. Since then, the relationship has grown stronger and Iran's President, Dr. Masoud Pezeshkian, spoke with MBS on November 10 praising the summit to be held, their joint relationship, and ways to further cooperate. Iran's First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref attended the summit.
On the same day, the two leaders spoke, General Chief of Staff Fayyad al-Ruwaili of the Saudi Armed Forces met his Iranian counterpart, General Mohammad Bagheri, at the Iranian Armed Forces General Staff Headquarters in Tehran. The continuing improvement in relations between the two political powerhouses in the region demonstrates they have rejected the 'divide and conquer' plans from the US State Department, which some dub the 'Deep State'. This may dovetail with Trump's plan to eradicate the 'Deep State'.
The summit resolution called for a Palestinian state with the borders of June 4, 1967, conforming to UN resolution 194, and reaffirmed that East Jerusalem is part of Palestine.
The summit resolution called for Israel to be suspended from the UN, and called for a draft resolution to the UN in the 10th special session of 'Uniting for Peace', in which Israel will be labeled a threat to international peace and security after it fails to fulfill its UN membership.
The summit resolution condemned continuing Israeli airstrikes on Syria which have killed civilians and destroyed civilian properties, and called for the end of the Israeli occupation of the occupied Golan Heights of Syria.
In Trump's first term in office, he gave the Golan Heights to Israel, in violation of UN resolutions and international law.
Trump had cut the CIA program which spent billions of dollars on the armed Syrian opposition in 2017. He also tried to withdraw the US troops and contractors in Syria, but the Pentagon somehow refused his order and explained that the US personnel were there to prevent an ISIS come-back. ISIS has never re-grouped, and the US troops remain just to defend the Communist Kurdish separatists in northeast Syria.
In 2017, MBS cut support of the Syrian armed opposition they had been supplying with weapons and cash since 2012, funneled through the Kingdom of Jordan. US President Obama and NATO attacked Syria for regime change beginning in March 2011. The Oval Office enlisted their allies Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Jordan to support the Syrian armed opposition, which were not seeking freedom, but were fighting to establish an Islamic State in Syria. Obama directed the US mainstream liberal media to spin the story that brave, freedom fighters in Syria wearing tennis shoes were battling a brutal dictatorship. Never mind that the fighters were Al Qaeda and the Islam Army, and were chopping off the heads of Syrian civilians, including children. The US liberal state media, CNN, was chief among the propagandists that kept the American people in the dark about who the US was supporting in Syria.
Military analysts have wondered why Israel is still bombing shelters and hospitals in Gaza since Hamas has been decimated. It is only because the US allows Israel to act with impunity. Perhaps Trump will change that, but only time will tell.
Political analysts on the Middle East have offered some tantalizing possibilities for what Trump might do. Trump values loyalty above all else. In the 2020 race, Netanyahu publically supported Joe Biden and urged the thousands of US citizens living in Israel to vote for Biden.
Trump may make demands on Netanyahu for a peace plan for Palestine, which Smotrich and Ben Gvir refuse, which will be followed by the collapse of the Netanyahu coalition. Netanyahu would then face prison for his corruption conviction, and a new Israeli government would be formed.
A new Israeli government, post-Netanyahu, might be willing to compromise for Israeli peace and security, and a two-state solution would be possible.
In 2022, then Prime Minister Yair Lapid said a two-state solution to the Israeli conflict was the right thing for Israel. Lapid is the current opposition leader from the centrist Yesh Atid party. In September 2024 he said he was for a two-state solution and normalization with Saudi Arabia.
Since November 2023, Lapid has called for the downfall of the Netanyahu government, and there is broad support for a change in leadership in Israel. Trump might need that change to find a willing partner for peace in Israel and Palestine.
As of November 10, 2024, Israeli deaths are 1,139, Gazan deaths are 43,603, and West Bank deaths are 780. Israel has also killed more than 3,100 people in Lebanon.
Steven Sahiounie is a two-time award-winning journalist.
This article is originally published at MideastDiscours
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