Like the call launched by Saudi Arabia to “stop the genocide” perpetrated by the Israeli army against the Palestinians, the Arab governments did not have words harsh enough to condemn the offensive launched by the Hebrew State, Monday May 6, around Rafah; the large-scale operation in this city where 1.4 million Gazans are massed is their red line. A new humanitarian catastrophe would further undermine their credibility among Arab opinions. It would complicate the development of a plan for “the day after” which is already struggling to take shape.
Between the Arab States and the American administration, whose hands are tied by Israel’s refusal to consider anything other than a military occupation of the Gaza Strip, the violins are far from being in tune.
When the former insist on the recognition of a Palestinian state as the pillar of a diplomatic solution, Washington makes normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel a priority. This dissonance undermines the Arab consensus. It sharpens differences of opinion and “the competition for leadership between Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi”notes an Egyptian diplomat.
After several months of consultation under the aegis of the Saudis, the Arab contact group, which also brings together Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Qatar, finalized a joint proposal. Presented on April 24 in Riyadh to the American Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, the plan met with refusal from Washington. This detailed roadmap, which The world was able to consult, made the recognition of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, by the United Nations Security Council, a prerequisite for peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
“This involves reversing the logic of Oslo. It is only from the recognition of the Palestinian state that we can seriously consider working on how to achieve decolonization. Amman presents this as a policy of fait accompli to establish the two-state solution and prevent any return to the past., explains Laure Foucher, expert at the Foundation for Strategic Research (FRS). The Arab States had had a foretaste of the American response, with the veto opposed by Washington to the resolution for the admission of the State of Palestine to the UN, presented by Algeria to the Security Council, on the 18 april.
Arab capitals are divided on what to do next
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