Alwaght- After revelation of Saudi investment in the Israeli economy and Riyadh’s push to form an Arab-Israeli coalition, these days the Saudis are taking the need for energy as an excuse for their interaction with the Israelis to build a presence for them in the Arabian Peninsula. Concerning these efforts, the Israeli newspaper Globes has disclosed a plan by Saudi Arabia and Egypt to transfer gas from the occupied territories to the kingdom. The project, added the newspaper, includes a pipeline from the Gulf of Aqaba to Saudi Arabia meant to meet energy needs of the much-vaunted Neom megacity the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman unveiled in 2016 as part of the Saudi Vision 2030 and other tourism projects along the Red Sea and Gulf of Aqaba coasts. Though the project is in the early stages, it can greatly warm the economic relations between Riyadh and Tel Aviv, especially after the reports that Riyadh issued permits to Israeli tourists to enter the two Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir.
The Saudis plan to make the Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir into busy tourist destinations with hotels and casinos open to Israelis, Globes revealed in a report on January 22.
“The opening of the Tiran and Sanafir islands to Israeli tourists indicates the Saudi desire to promote steps to move closer to Israel. However, this vision will be realized gradually and through ways that do not have far-reaching political significance,” the Israeli newspaper reported citing sources familiar with the matter.
According to the Israeli media, in exchange for the Saudis opening their airspace to Israeli flights, the ownership of Tiran and Sanafir islands will be transferred from Egypt to Saudi Arabia. Accordingly, since the two mentioned islands are part of the peace agreement between Israeli regime and Egypt, Tel Aviv is the main party to decide on the transfer of their ownership. Many observers believe that the transfer of these islands from Egypt to Saudi Arabia will be an important step towards the normalization of relations between Riyadh and Tel Aviv, and perhaps this agreement will lead to the signing of full compromise agreement between the two sides.
Saudi Arabia eyes gas contracts with the Israeli regime while its neighbor Qatar is one of the world’s largest gas exporters, which can supply all of Saudi Arabia’s needs for years. But the Saudis do not want to buy gas from Qatar. Although Saudi Arabia’s relations with Qatar were resumed after four years of tensions, it seems that Riyadh rulers do not see a clear outlook for their relations with Doha, and therefore do not want to depend on this country in terms of energy. Actually, the repeat of the 2017 crisis with Qatar is not unlikely in the future, and the Saudis are acting more warily and do not want to have a weak point in the face of Qatar. So, they have reached out to Israeli government to provide part of their gas needs from the occupied territories.
In the past decade, the Israeli regime discovered enormous gas resources, which are enough to supply the gas needed by the occupied territories. But Tel Aviv exports part of this gas abroad, and this issue is expected to bring about challenge for it in the future. A few months ago, the European Union signed a gas imports agreement with the Israeli government, and part of the gas products are supposed to be exported to Europe through Egypt, and if the Europeans demand more, it would be beyond Tel Aviv’s capacity, mainly since half of the gas resources located in the Mediterranean Sea are shared with Lebanon, and the Lebanese will not allow the Israelis to plunder their reserves. Therefore, the Israeli gas reserves are incomparable to Qatar’s, and some analysts question its capacity to meet needs of Europe, Saudi Arabia, and even Egypt.
An agreement for normalization
Bin Salman is perfectly aware that the kingdom’s public have a negative view of thaw process, and that is why he has stepped through energy gate to insinuate that Saudi Arabia needs gas and must get it from the occupied territories, an agenda meant to gradually pave the way for publicizing their relations.
The normalization process has gained pace with return to power of Netanyahu. Netanyahu and other Tel Aviv officials have pointed out in recent weeks that the Arab countries are standing in line for normalization. Probably, one of the two countries that Israel has said will soon normalize ties to the Israeli regime is Saudi Arabia, which has moved more than others in this direction.
Recently, the Saudi Foreign Minister announced that the normalization is in the interest of the Arab countries and the region. Adel Al-Jubeir, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia, recently acknowledged that the time to publicize relations between Riyadh and Tel Aviv is approaching and that their ties are moving towards normalization and this is a “strategic” option.
Saudi officials have repeatedly noted that everything is ready for normalization with the occupation regime and it is a matter of time. Israel’s i24 news network reported that Saudi Arabia is waiting for some time to pass from Netanyahu government.
Netanyahu has been in power for a month, and in this short period of time, he has been jolted by protests and conflicts with Palestinian groups, and in such a difficult situation, making relations with Saudi Arabia public can take a burden off the shoulders of the far-right cabinet in Tel Aviv. Saudi Arabia is trying to use normalization to form a coalition against Iran and cut Tehran’s influence in the Persian Gulf.
Neom is just an excuse
That it is said that bin Salman buys gas from Israeli regime to meet his dream city Neom’s energy needs is just a justification of this project, because the project that was unveiled six years ago has just been an ink on the paper and no effective steps have been taken to its construction. This smart city takes $500 billion to construct and this huge money should be provided by foreign investors, but they are unwilling to invest. Another issue is that as the Saudis have already advertised, Neom is planned to be run on renewable energies and does not need to burn gas and oil, and therefore buying Israeli gas for this major project is not true.
The Arab countries are trying to inject billions of dollars into Tel Aviv’s coffers by buying the stolen gas of the Palestinian people from the occupiers. This money will be used to produce more weapons to kill the Palestinian people, and the Arab compromising regimes will be accomplices to Israelis in anti-Palestinian crimes.
The Persian Gulf Arab rulers turned their back to liberation of Palestinian years ago when they initiated normalization, and during these years, they turned a blind eye to the Israeli crimes to avoid damage to normalization. Meanwhile, the Palestinian resistance groups have grown fully certain that expecting support and aids from compromising Arabs is pointless and they need to rely on their domestic capabilities to make gains against the occupation.
