High hopes of Arab summit OK for Israel peace step

DEBKA

If the Arab summit opening in Amman Wednesday, March 9 meets the expectations of Washington and Jerusalem, the session will ratify a pivotal initiative for promoting an historic peace process between the Arab world and Israel. This effort, which matured through five months of mostly secret diplomacy, was launched by Donald Trump in November, shortly after he was elected US President.

The official Arab summit agenda covers the disastrous war crises preying on the Arab world in Syria, Yemen and Iraq, as well as economic issues. But the rulers will also quietly discuss off-stage a proposal brought by Saudi King Salman and Egyptian President Abdel-Fatteh El-Sisi to embark on steps destined to lead to peaceful relations between the moderate Arab regimes and Israel and exponentially to a resolution of the Israeli-P\alestinian conflict.

DEBKAfile’s sources in Washington and Jerusalem report exclusively that President Trump and Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman crafted this proposal at the White House on March 14, during the prince’s trip to Washington. It was the high point of their talks, although they also aired and reached agreement on the war crises in Syria and Yemen, as well as America’s next steps against Iran on both those fronts and in the Gulf region.

President Trump arranged a dinner in honor of the Saudi king’s son that was attended by Vice President Mike Pence, the White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, the president’s strategic adviser Steve Bannon and his son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner.

Some of the steps decided on during Prince Mohammed’s visit have since gone into effect, with the arrival of US military forces in Syria and the Yemeni arena.

In the course of their conversation, Prince Mohammed informed Trump that his father, King Salman, had agreed on the need for the first time to amend the original 2002 Saudi peace proposal which the Arab summit ratified unchanged in 2007.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has often said he would accept the Saudi peace plan with updated amendments. Prince Muhammad added that the United Arab Emirates de facto ruler Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and the Egyptian president had responded affirmatively to the king’s request to underwrite the proposal.

The text they agreed at this White House encounter calls for three steps to be launched without delay for promoting progress towards a historic accommodation between the Arab world and the Jewish state.

Those steps are revealed for the first time in an exclusive report appearing in the next DEBKA Weekly issue (for subscribers) out this coming Friday, March 31. If you are not yet a subscriber to this premium publication, you may click here to sign on.

DEBKAfile also discloses here that the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas furiously rejected the Saudi peace initiative when it was presented to him in Cairo by President El-Sisi in Cairo on March 20.

In Jerusalem, our sources add that the prime minister is allowing a coalition crisis threatening his government to linger unresolved until he learns whether the Arab summit has confirmed the Saudi-Egyptian-UAE initiative in the face of predictable opposition. With this epic success in hand, Netanyahu expects his government to sail through the fracas to safety.

March 29, 2017 | 6 Comments »

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  1. Israel has not agreed to any of this ! If Abbas angrily refused the Saud re-write it points to writing off or otherwise shelving the return of 1948 refugees’ families. However the PLO is the constituency of the return of the refugees’ families if nothing else; so as with Peel and UN 181 and Oslo, the Arabs themselves will puncture this balloon.
    Then there is a chance of the Saudis and Egypt themselves sinking the PA/PLO as a nuisance in their other regional policies.

  2. Is it deception or taqiyya? This is has been going on for 13 centuries and the West remains as gullible as ever or they are just hiding their antisemitism behind the djellabas .

  3. Trump favors a 2-state final solution that would destroy Israel? Jordan is the 2nd state which was already given land for peace, and Israel got less land and no peace. Never again! Oh that’s right, never again was dissed and we tried it again in Gaza. Again, less land for Israel and no peace. Repeated failures tried incessantly is insane. Why are our leaders so unimaginative and insane? Caroline Glick and others have better ideas. We must try something else. Otherwise, next time the loss of land will leave no Israel left.

  4. first the merc looks right out of the Nazi era, suggests the direction of the terrorist meet.

    2nd)Those steps are revealed for the first time in an exclusive report appearing in the next DEBKA Weekly issue (for subscribers) out this coming Friday, March 31. If you are not yet a subscriber to this premium publication, you may click here to sign on.

    not exactly a sales pitch if ever I saw one.
    the results of this meet will be public within 24 hours for free.

    if abbarse ‘has furiously rejected the Saudi peace initiative’ we know it does not demand ISRAELS unconditional surrender, nor gives him everything he demands.

    unfortunately we know nutunyahoo will willingly surrender saying it’s best deal I can get for ISRAEL for me to have nobel prize.

    ps got my seat to see The Blues whip the lillywhites