The Long Road to Middle East Peace Starts in Saudi Arabia https://mosaicmagazine.com/picks/israel-zionism/2017/05/the-long-road-to-middle-east-peace-starts-in-saudi-arabia/

May 30, 2017 | Charles Krauthammer
About the author: Charles Krauthammer, the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and author of Things That Matter: Three Decades of Passions, Pastimes, and Politics, is the chairman of Pro Musica Hebraica.

Responding to the president’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia and Israel—which suggested a renewal of America’s commitment to its traditional Sunni Arab allies as well as to the Jewish state—Charles Krauthammer writes:

Islamic State is Sunni. Al-Qaeda is Sunni. Fifteen of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi. And the spread of Saudi-funded madrassas around the world has for decades inculcated a poisonous Wahhabism that has fueled Islamist terrorism. Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states publicly declaring war on their bastard terrorist child, [as they now have done], is significant. As is their pledge not to tolerate any semiofficial support or private donations. . . .

A salutary side effect is the possibility of a détente with Israel. That would suggest an outside-in approach to Arab-Israeli peace: a rapprochement between the Sunni states and Israel (the outside) would put pressure on the Palestinians to come to terms (the inside). It’s a long-shot strategy, but it’s better than all the others. . . .

[But] making the Israel-Palestinian issue central, rather than peripheral, to the epic Sunni-Shiite war shaking the Middle East today [would be] a serious tactical mistake. It subjects any now-possible reconciliation between Israel and the Arab states to a Palestinian veto.

Ironically, the Iranian threat that grew under Barack Obama offers a unique opportunity for U.S.-Arab and even Israeli-Arab cooperation. Over time, such cooperation could gradually acclimate Arab peoples to a nonbelligerent stance toward Israel. Which might in turn help persuade the Palestinians to make some concessions before their fellow Arabs finally tire of the Palestinians’ century of rejectionism. . . . In the meantime, the real action is on the anti-Iranian and anti-terrorism fronts. Don’t let Oslo-like mirages get in the way.

Read more on Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/why-middle-east-peace-starts-in-saudi-arabia/2017/05/25/1f92af8c-4174-11e7-adba-394ee67a7582_story.html