US-Arab relations at stake

At a time when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been indicted by Israel’s attorney general on corruption charges only few weeks before the upcoming Israeli elections take place, US President Donald Trump throws to him yet another lifeline, by inviting him to the White House for talks.

How else one can view this pre-election invitation other than as a vain attempt to interfere in the Israeli elections and boost Netanyahu’s chances in the elections that will decide the fate of his political life for all times?

This lifeline also comes in the wake of Trump’s signalling that it is high time to recognise Israel’s sovereignty over the Syria Golan Heights. Now Netanyahu is poised to exploit these “gifts” to the maximum in order to assure himself another term as prime minister of his country. This also means that Trump wants Netanyahu to stay in power, something that means only one thing: no movement on the peace front.

This is all being done before the grand revelation of the “deal of the century”.

There are Arab and non-Arab countries that enjoy some leverage with President Trump and this is the time for them to apply some pressure on him before it is too late. The overall Arab and non-Arab reaction to Trump’s latest moves has been generally muted; nonexistent, for all intents and purposes. If governments closest to the White House do not make a move now, when do they intend to weigh in on the recent alarming initiatives by the US president on the “peace process” between Israel and the Palestinians?

The US needs to be served with a notice, loud and clear, that it is also the US-Arab relations which are also at stake, politically and economically. President Trump understands the economic card more than anything else. Maybe now is the time to use that card to extricate some concessions from him on the peace front. If that does not work, nothing will!