Saudi King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud used the 29th Arab Summit last weekend to reaffirm long-standing political positions, amounting to some distancing of the kingdom from its close association with the Trump administration. The subtle change in tone publicly reflects growing private doubts about the US administration’s commitment to rolling back Iranian influence in the region.
Instead of hosting the Arab heads of state in the capital city, Riyadh, the Saudis selected the venue to be in Dammam in Eastern Province, the home of the kingdom’s oil wealth and its Shiite minority. So Dammam and nearby towns such as Khobar and Dhahran were decked out with the flags of the Arab states, including Qatar (but not Syria) to welcome the states that attended the summit. Of course, Eastern Province is also the part of Saudi Arabia that is the farthest away from Yemen. It is apparently outside the range of the Houthis’ Iranian-designed ballistic missiles. Last week, the Houthis announced that 2018 is “the year of the ballistic missile.” By the Saudis count, 117 missiles have targeted Saudi cities in the last three years.
Salman opened the summit by renaming it the “Jerusalem Summit.” In his remarks, he said the top priority of the Arab leaders is and should be Palestine. He strongly condemned the Trump administration’s Jerusalem policy. He said the Saudis saw Palestine and Jerusalem as their “first issue.” This rhetoric is not new, of course, and it is standard Saudi policy. The king also reaffirmed the Saudi commitment to the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative developed by his predecessors.
The stridency of the king’s remarks, however, reflects growing unease in the royal palace that events in Gaza and Jerusalem are moving toward even more explosive unrest next month when the US Embassy opens in Jerusalem. The Saudis are uncomfortable that they have been widely perceived in the Arab world as colluding with Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, to undermine the Palestinians’ claim to the holy city, a perception that damages the Saudi mantle as the defender of the holy mosques, which is crucial to the royal family’s legitimacy. Pictures on TV of protesting Gazans burning Saudi flags and pictures of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have been blocked in the kingdom. Iran is actively labeling the Saudis as conspiring with Israel.
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