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Late on Friday night, US President Donald Trump tweeted that Bahrain and Israel had reached a “historic agreement” to establish full relations with each other.
No seconds passed since Trump’s tweet, until Arab communication sites were filled with blogs discussing the consequences of Bahrain’s decision and hashtags denouncing the agreement and seeing it as a “new stab in the back of the Palestinian cause. “.
In return, others hailed Bahrain’s decision as a “courageous and realistic step”.
The announcement of normalization between Bahrain and Israel was not a sudden decision, but an expected step that came less than a month after the conclusion of a similar decision between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
Observers believe that the rapprochement between the two countries went through years of secrecy, and appeared to the public in 2017 when an Israeli delegation was allowed to participate in a FIFA competition in Manama.
However, despite sufficient indications of coordination between the two countries, Manama’s decision to establish full diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv came as a shock to many Arab commentators.
This step opened the door to questions and speculation about the possibility of other Arab countries joining the engine of normalization.
In this context, one of them asks: “Who is the next Arab ruler who will go to Washington voluntarily or involuntarily to bless normalization? Sultanate of Oman, Sudan, Morocco or the jewels of Saudi Arabia?”
“who is the next one?”
Many commentators and politicians rule out Bahrain taking the normalization step without the green light from Saudi Arabia, its close ally.
They see that Riyadh seeks to feel the pulse of the Arab and Saudi street through the Bahrain-Israel agreement.
Furthermore, American analysts on Twitter believe that Saudi Arabia tacitly endorsed the UAE’s decision last month after it allowed commercial jets traveling between Israel and the UAE to fly over its territory.
Therefore, commentators hope that Trump will pressure Riyadh and other Arab capitals to normalize before the US elections.
There appears to be an American and Israeli need for Riyadh approval to grant legal cover to standardization agreements, given the symbolism of Saudi Arabia and its importance as an essential entry point to the Arab and Islamic world.
Far from speculation, Jared Kushner, senior adviser to the president of the United States, declared that the normalization of relations between Tel Aviv and Riyadh is inevitable.
However, American analyst Simon Henderson believes that King Salman bin Abdulaziz is very supportive of the Palestinian position and does not wish to undermine the kingdom’s position in the Islamic world.
Riyadh did not comment on the agreement between Israel and Bahrain.
He also did not officially comment on the Emirati agreement. However, “Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said on August 19 that his country will not follow the example of the United Arab Emirates in normalizing relations unless the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is resolved.” .
Frequent reports on Saudi Arabia’s stances towards normalization some read as an indication of its adherence to the Arab peace initiative, which calls for “Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian lands it occupied in 1967 in exchange for peace.”
The Arab Peace Initiative was launched by King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, King of Saudi Arabia, with the aim of establishing an internationally recognized Palestinian state on the 1967 borders. It was announced at the Beirut Arab summit in 2002.
On the other hand, some question the viability of this initiative in light of the “inability of the Arab League to reach a unified resolution that condemns Emirati normalization and prevents other countries from following its path.”
The tweeters had launched a cynical campaign “calling for the dissolution of the Arab League or turning it into a wedding hall after it became the home of the drummers,” according to their description.
And after the doomed electronic campaigns?
Since the announcement of the agreement between Bahrain and Israel, the hashtag “Bahrainis against normalization” topped the list of the most discussed topics on Twitter in Bahrain.
Bahraini tweeters and politicians expressed their categorical rejection of their government’s decision, describing normalization as a “crime”, while others defended their government. .
They asked the countries of his highness in the Turkish-Iranian axis to stop “pushing for the Palestinian issue with constructive letters, affirming the firm position of their country on the issue.” ‘.
Like the Bahraini tweeters, Omani activists launched a hashtag titled # Omanis Against Normalization, while the hashtag #natural_travening ranked high on the most frequent phrase charts in Algeria, Egypt, Jordan and several Gulf countries.
For days, Arab communication sites have been full of electronic campaigns denouncing the standardization agreements and calling them shameful agreements.
But these campaigns hardly reach the virtual world, as observers believe that the calls for demonstrations did not measure up to the seriousness of the event and cannot be compared to the demonstrations that followed the signing of the Camp David Accords or the Oslo.
Commentators believe that the Corona crisis and citizens’ concern for their domestic and lively crises have weakened their willingness to take to the streets, despite their categorical rejection of all attempts at rapprochement with Israel.
Peace or surrender?
For this reason, activists and commentators believe that direct protest against this rapprochement should manifest itself in movements demanding democracy in the Arab world, saying that Palestinian sovereignty will only be achieved through the liberation of peoples from political oppression.
Supporters of the Israeli rapprochement raise slogans that describe it as realistic. They highlight the importance of establishing peace to end the policy of annexation of territories, defeat the Iranian threat and stop the expansion of terrorist groups.
As for those who refuse to establish relations with Tel Aviv, they consider it “a call for surrender, from which only the rulers who wish to establish their government by obtaining the approval of Israel will benefit.”
Another group of commentators searched for the term “peace initiative” to describe an agreement between parties that were not united by the war, but the rapprochement between them has been announced for years.
Therefore, many believe that what is happening now is nothing more than understandings or an intersection of interests between the US administration, the Netanyahu government and some Arab capitals.
The normalization agreement between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain will be signed on Tuesday, September 15, at the White House during a ceremony presided over by the President of the United States, Donald Trump.
Trump has decided to name the Abraham Agreement. It is not without political and religious connotations.
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