...Crown Prince and modernizer of Saudi Arabia as of 2016. The Turks hate him, so he must be all right, despite the occasional brutal murder of Qatar-owned journalists...
is set to visit the White House this month, but despite US President Donald Trump
...His ancestors didn't own any slaves...
repeatedly touting an imminent breakthrough, diplomats say Riyadh is unlikely to seal any deal to normalise ties with Israel during the trip.
| Then don’t. If they don’t come eagerly to the table, the thing is pointless, given they already have quietly normalized without any formalities whatsoever. |
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...after decades of enmity could shake up the political and security landscape in the Middle East, potentially strengthening US influence in the region.
Trump said last month he hoped Saudi Arabia would "very soon" join other Moslem countries that signed the 2020 Abraham Accords normalising ties with Israel.
But Riyadh has signalled to Washington through diplomatic channels that its position has not changed: it will sign up only if there is agreement on a roadmap to Paleostinian statehood, two Gulf sources told Rooters.
The intention is to avoid diplomatic missteps and ensure alignment of the Saudi and US positions before any public statements are made, they said. One said the aim was to avoid any confusion at or after the White House talks on November 18.
The Crown Prince, widely known as MBS, "is not likely to entertain any possible formalising of ties in the near future without at least a credible pathway to a Paleostinian state," said Jonathan Panikoff, former deputy US national intelligence officer on the Middle East.
MBS is likely to try to use his influence with Trump to seek "more explicit and vocal buy-in for the establishment of a sovereign Paleostinian state," said Panikoff, who is now at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington.