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Saudi Arabia and Egypt are leading a group of five Arab countries pushing a plan for peace and the post-war rebuilding of Gaza, the Wall Street Journal writes in a deeply reported piece that relies heavily on unnamed Saudi and Egyptian officials.
The pitch: End the war in Gaza and recognize Palestine as an independent nation — and Saudi Arabia will recognize Israel. US diplomats are playing middleman to pitch the Israelis on the idea, which would also see Gulf countries and Egypt taking the lead in rebuilding and securing Gaza when Israel withdraws.
The Netanyahu government is cool to the idea, with the prime minister having said that there’s no way he will recognize a Palestinian state
There’s momentum:
- Brett McGurk was in Cairo yesterday for talks before flying to Doha. He’s the Biden administration’s top Mideast adviser.
- Josep Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat, led a group of European foreign ministers meeting with Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and other Arab top diplomats in Brussels yesterday. Bin Farhan also met with his French counterpart, and Egypt’s Sameh Shoukry is also in Brussels for the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting.
- EU foreign ministers are putting pressure on Israel and do not see eye-to-eye with Foreign Minister Israel Katz. The WSJ says the two sides were “talking past” each other.
Saudi, Egypt and the other Arab countries won’t take direct responsibility for securing and rebuilding Gaza, but the WSJ expects them to offer the following when they finish putting together their plans in the coming weeks:
- Help with reconstruction — but not own it;
- Train Palestinian security forces;
- Reform the Palestinian Authority;
- Help organize elections.
Bin Farhan’s message is clear: There will be no normalization of ties with Israel without a “credible and irreversible path to a Palestinian state,” he told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria (watch, runtime: 7:33). Saudi Arabia will not discuss leading the reconstruction of Gaza until the war ends. “The killing must end first. There’s no point … if we’re not going to talk about first ending the killing.
