JERUSALEM (AP) \u2014 News of the rapprochement between long-time regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran sent shock waves through the Middle East on Saturday and dealt a symbolic blow to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has made the threat posed by Tehran a public diplomacy priority and personal crusade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The breakthrough \u2014 a culmination of more than a year of negotiations in Baghdad and more recent talks in China \u2014 also became ensnared in Israel\u2019s internal politics, reflecting the country\u2019s divisions at a moment of national turmoil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The agreement, which gives Iran and Saudi Arabia two months to reopen their respective embassies and re-establish ties after seven years of rupture, more broadly represents one of the most striking shifts in Middle Eastern diplomacy over recent years. In countries like Yemen and Syria, long caught between the Sunni kingdom and the Shiite powerhouse, the announcement stirred cautious optimism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Israel, it caused disappointment \u2014 along with finger-pointing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of Netanyahu\u2019s greatest foreign policy triumphs remains Israel\u2019s U.S.-brokered normalization deals in 2020 with four Arab states, including Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. They were part of a wider push to isolate and oppose Iran in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He has portrayed himself as the only politician capable of protecting Israel from Tehran\u2019s rapidly accelerating nuclear program and regional proxies, like Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Israel and Iran have also waged a regional shadow war that has led to suspected Iranian drone strikes on Israeli-linked ships ferrying goods in the Persian Gulf, among other attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A normalization deal with Saudi Arabia, the most powerful and wealthy Arab state, would fulfill Netanyahu\u2019s prized goal, reshaping the region and boosting Israel\u2019s standing in historic ways. Even as backdoor relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia have grown, the kingdom has said it won\u2019t officially recognize Israel before a resolution to the decadeslong Israeli-Palestinian conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since returning to office late last year, Netanyahu and his allies have hinted that a deal with the kingdom could be approaching. In a speech to American Jewish leaders last month, Netanyahu described a peace agreement as \u201ca goal that we are working on in parallel with the goal of stopping Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But experts say the Saudi-Iran deal that announced Friday has thrown cold water on those ambitions. Saudi Arabia\u2019s decision to engage with its regional rival has left Israel largely alone as it leads the charge for diplomatic isolation of Iran and threats of a unilateral military strike against Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities. The UAE also resumed formal relations with Iran last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a blow to Israel\u2019s notion and efforts in recent years to try to form an anti-Iran bloc in the region,\u201d said Yoel Guzansky, an expert on the Persian Gulf at the Institute for National Security Studies, an Israeli think tank. \u201cIf you see the Middle East as a zero-sum game, which Israel and Iran do, a diplomatic win for Iran is very bad news for Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even Danny Danon, a Netanyahu ally and former Israeli ambassador to the U.N. who recently predicted a peace agreement with Saudi Arabia in 2023, seemed disconcerted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is not supporting our efforts,\u201d he said, when asked about whether the rapprochement hurt chances for the kingdom\u2019s recognition of Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Yemen, where the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran has played out with the most destructive consequences, both warring parties were guarded, but hopeful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Saudi-led military coalition intervened in Yemen\u2019s conflict in 2015, months after the Iran-backed Houthi militias seized the capital of Sanaa in 2014, forcing the internationally recognized government into exile in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Houthi rebels welcomed the agreement as a modest but positive step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe region needs the return of normal relations between its countries, through which the Islamic society can regain security lost from foreign interventions,\u201d said Houthi spokesman and chief negotiator Mohamed Abdulsalam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Saudi-backed Yemeni government expressed some optimism \u2014 and caveats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Yemeni government\u2019s position depends on actions and practices not words and claims,\u201d it said, adding it would proceed cautiously \u201cuntil observing a true change in (Iranian) behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Analysts did not expect an immediate settlement to the conflict, but said direct talks and better relations could create momentum for a separate agreement that may offer both countries an exit from a disastrous war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe ball now is in the court of the Yemeni domestic warring parties to prioritize Yemen\u2019s national interest in reaching a peace deal and be inspired by this initial positive step,\u201d said Afrah Nasser, a non-resident fellow at the Washington-based Arab Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anna Jacobs, senior Gulf analyst with the International Crisis Group, said she believed the deal was tied to a de-escalation in Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is difficult to imagine a Saudi-Iran agreement to resume diplomatic relations and re-open embassies within a two-month period without some assurances from Iran to more seriously support conflict resolution efforts in Yemen,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
War-scarred Syria similarly welcomed the agreement as a move toward easing tensions that have exacerbated the country\u2019s conflict. Iran has been a main backer of Syrian President Bashar Assad\u2019s government, while Saudi Arabia has supported opposition fighters trying to remove him from power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Syrian Foreign Ministry called it an \u201cimportant step that will lead to strengthening security and stability in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Israel, bitterly divided and gripped by mass protests over plans by Netanyahu\u2019s far-right government to overhaul the judiciary, politicians seized on the rapprochement between the kingdom and Israel\u2019s archenemy as an opportunity to criticize Netanyahu, accusing him of focusing on his personal agenda at the expense of Israel\u2019s international relations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yair Lapid, the former prime minister and head of Israel\u2019s opposition, denounced the agreement between Riyadh and Tehran as \u201ca full and dangerous failure of the Israeli government\u2019s foreign policy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is what happens when you deal with legal madness all day instead of doing the job with Iran and strengthening relations with the U.S.,\u201d he wrote on Twitter. Even Yuli Edelstein from Netanyahu\u2019s Likud party blamed Israel\u2019s \u201cpower struggles and head-butting\u201d for distracting the country from its more pressing threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another opposition lawmaker, Gideon Saar, mocked Netanyahu\u2019s goal of formal ties with the kingdom. \u201cNetanyahu promised peace with Saudi Arabia,\u201d he wrote on social media. \u201cIn the end (Saudi Arabia) did it \u2026 with Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Netanyahu, on an official visit to Italy, declined a request for comment and issued no statement on the matter. But quotes to Israeli media by an anonymous senior official in the delegation sought to put blame on the previous government that ruled for a year and a half before Netanyahu returned to office. \u201cIt happened because of the impression that Israel and the U.S. were weak,\u201d said the senior official, according to the Haaretz daily, which hinted that Netanyahu was the official.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the fallout for Netanyahu\u2019s reputation, experts doubted a detente would harm Israel. Saudi Arabia and Iran will remain regional rivals, even if they open embassies in each other\u2019s capitals, said Guzansky. And like the UAE, Saudi Arabia could deepen relations with Israel even while maintaining a transactional relationship with Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe low-key arrangement that the Saudis have with Israel will continue,\u201d said Umar Karim, an expert on Saudi politics at the University of Birmingham, noting that the Israeli occupation of the West Bank remained more of a barrier to Saudi recognition than differences over Iran. \u201cThe Saudi leadership is engaging in more than one way to secure its national security.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
JERUSALEM (AP) \u2014 News of the rapprochement between long […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2337,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2336"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2336\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2338,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2336\/revisions\/2338"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}