President Donald Trump’s Dec. 6 decision on Jerusalem is considered in Ramallah to be a major setback for what was until now a potential diplomatic track toward Palestinian statehood. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was in contact with the Arab League and personally addressed the summit of Muslim leaders in Istanbul on Dec. 13, expressing his concerns and anger over the US decision. But realists in the Palestinian leadership understand that, so far, these reactions were only of rhetorical value. Abbas has little leverage, while Hamas has been strengthened.
After the meeting in Istanbul, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman invited Abbas to Saudi Arabia. According to a senior Israeli Foreign Ministry policy analyst, the Saudis were irritated by the harsh anti-American tone adopted at the Istanbul conference, which was chaired by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in the presence of Iranian leadership.
Two weeks ago, just a day after the Jerusalem proclamation, the Saudi leader met with a group of American foreign policy analysts in Riyadh. According to one of the participants, the prince hardly mentioned the proclamation in his comments, except to reiterate the Saudi position on East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital. He was outspokenly pro-American, and he did not rule out cooperation with Israel once a solution to the Palestinian issue is reached based on the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative.
The Israeli analyst believes that the new Saudi leadership was not really shocked by Trump’s decision, as it maintains regular contact with the White House. The Saudi crown prince would like to see a revival of the US Peace Initiative, once the storm over the proclamation cools down. He would like the Palestinians to renew contact with US envoys on the American peace initiative, which the Saudis consider to be more balanced than Abbas believes. In fact, the Saudi leadership traditionally believes in gradual progress, thus favoring a long-term interim agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, leading to Palestinian statehood.
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