Why is Saudi Crown Prince still pushing for two states?

One of the real revelations of October 7th was that Hamas never really wanted a two-state solution. Their goal was to invade Israel, massacre as many Jews as possible and continue on a killing rampage, deeper into the country – all in their quest to put an end to the State of Israel.

None of this is old news, because ever since the establishment of the Jewish homeland, back in 1947, the offer of a two-state solution has been made time and again. Rejected back then and rebuffed each time it was offered, over the past 76 years, the answer was, “No thanks.”

Heard in the chant, “From the river to the sea,” is the same unequivocal message. There is no desire to share the land. It’s all or nothing!

So, it’s quite curious as to why Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, better known as MBS, would attach, as one of his conditions to revive the stalled process of normalized relations between Israel and his country, initiated by former President Donald Trump in the Abraham Accords, “a credible path toward a Palestinian state.”

There are only two types of people who believe that a credible path exists. They would be incredibly deluded ideologues, who haven’t given up on placing a square peg into a round hole, or they are cynically, agenda-driven individuals who know that such a plan will never work but are, nonetheless, committed to making the demand in order to perpetuate the thorn in the side of Israel and also as a means to keep the grievance on life support.

It's hard to believe that MBS falls into the first category. From all accounts, he is a clever, well-informed leader, who thoroughly understands all of the ins and outs of the Middle East, its people, the struggles of each group, what is possible and what isn’t, given all that has taken place these many years. So why would he make such an absurd demand, likely knowing that a two-state solution will never be accepted by Hamas, the democratically elected government of Gaza?

There has to be more to it, because so much has dramatically changed since the Abraham Accord talks began in 2016. In his article titled, “The Saudi price for normalization,” writer Neville Teller recalls how in 2002, MBS’s predecessor and older brother, Crown Prince Abdullah endorsed the two-state solution, proposed previously by others, but that was then and this is now.

The savage acts of October 7th, if nothing else, had to bring a realistic perspective to any normal-thinking, reasonable person, to finally understand that a two-state solution is neither wanted nor possible. Given the fact that Hamas still remains the leadership of Gaza, MBS cannot hope to demand such an unattainable condition. Doing so is tantamount to determining its utter failure even before applying CPR to the languishing agreement.

Nevertheless, there is no question that Saudi Arabia has much to gain from normalized relations with the Jewish state. On their part, they just need to recognize the legitimacy of the State of Israel, for which they, in turn, would receive their own personal wish list, consisting of: “support for a civilian nuclear program, access to weapons, limitation of the Iran threat, more economic opportunities, including direct telecommunication, no trade restrictions with Israel, a pledge from Israel not to annex the West Bank and an end to Jewish housing expansion of that area.”

In short, they would greatly benefit economically, improving just about every aspect of life for them, with expectations reaching into “tourism, health care, technology, and culturally as ties between the two countries develop. This would include the “expansion of energy trade through Israel to supply the world with a lucrative opportunity to carry natural gas across Saudi Arabia to the Trans-Israel Pipeline and Europe.“

Perhaps it is this unlimited well of advantage which is so vast, offering endless opportunity, that puts MBS in a position to ask for the moon. But he might as well be asking for the moon, because the two-state solution demand is just as impossible, at this point in time, to achieve. The question is would he be willing to indefinitely stall the “deal of the century,” as it's been dubbed, by attaching an undoable condition which will doom it from the start?

It’s like seeing the Promised Land, right before your eyes but not being able to enter it. So, one would think that there would be the need for some kind of creative solution to break the stalemate and push forward with the hope of peace and prosperity for all. But would that “creative solution” be a feasible alternative or one that still remains an insurmountable obstacle to achieving the prize?

With so much riding on this deal, it seems unlikely that all the parties involved would let it slip through their fingers, so we should all be on the lookout for some other solution being put forward very soon, especially if Trump succeeds in his presidential bid, this November, because no one more than him would like the unforgettable legacy of being the person to accomplish what no one else could up until now. Normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia would be the ultimate feather in his cap.

Unfortunately, as exciting and filled with possibility as all of this is, for those who stand to gain from it, there are also those who are totally committed to making sure that this process never sees the light of day. Among that cast of characters are said to be “64% of Palestinians who oppose the Abraham Accords.”

Of course, China and Iran are also against the normalization of diplomatic ties between these two countries, since they will be cut out of the deal, minimizing their involvement in the region. That is why Iran has made overtures to Saudi Arabia, in an attempt to entice them to restore diplomatic relations, offering to “establish a naval alliance with them, the UAE and other Gulf States, to dissuade the Saudis from joining the Accords.”

In the end, it might come down to Saudi Arabia deciding whether or not Israel is a more trustworthy partner than Iran. If MBS is as smart as they give him credit for, that one should not be too difficult to figure out.