In a surprise that experts didn’t see coming, most Arabs in countries that would be affected by President Trump’s Middle East peace plan endorse the pathway to normalized relations with Israel.
In the survey, a remarkable 7 in 10 people in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Jordan said they also feel that normalization is coming despite what Palestinian leaders do to resist peace with the Jewish state.
“Such findings would have seemed preposterous 5 or 10 years ago,” said a report on the findings in Middle East expert Joel Rosenberg’s All Arab News.
The poll, done by James Zogby, founder of Zogby Research Services and president of the Arab American Institute, raised the prospect that Saudi Arabia, the key player in the region and a top target of Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Trump adviser Jared Kushner in this year’s negotiations, is warming to a deal.
Saudi Foreign Minister @FaisalbinFarhan says Kingdom seeks normalization with Israel, but also a Palestinian state. Blasts threat by Iran: “We are committed to working with the U.S. so that Iran does not obtain a nuclear bomb – ever,” FM says. https://t.co/yCM31qpc43
— Joel C. Rosenberg (@JoelCRosenberg) October 16, 2020
Rosenberg told Secrets that the survey “is the most dramatic public evidence we’ve seen not only that the Saudi public is steadily warming towards peace with Israel, but that the much-criticized strategy of President Trump to advance Arab-Israeli peace, and an Arab-Israeli strategic alliance against Iran, is actually working.”
He also said that the issue and Trump’s success in getting countries to sign on to normalization should be taken into account by voters next month.
“If Trump is reelected, the path is open towards a Saudi-Israeli peace treaty that would become the biggest breakthrough in history, in part because Riyadh trusts Trump. If Biden wins, the path becomes more complicated because Biden has been so hostile in his statements towards the Saudis and because he is so distrusted in Riyadh, having been one of the architects of the disastrous Iran nuclear deal,” he said.
Author: Paul Bedard
Source: Washington Examiner: Surprise: Majority of Arabs back Trump Middle East peace plan, 79% of Saudis
