Last update - 02:08 02/08/2007
The Saudi Link / Bush's reward for the arms deal
By / Zvi Bar'el
Coincidences are rare in the Middle East. Exchanging gifts, by contrast, is quite common.
And so, Saudi Arabia's recent announcement that it will participate in U.S. President George W. Bush's international conference on peace in the Middle East next fall comes as no surprise. After all, it closely followed Washington's announcement that it would sign a whopping $20 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia to "maintain the existing strategic balance."
Should a Saudi delegation attend the summit alongside a delegation from Jerusalem, it will be an important - albeit not unprecedented - breakthrough for Israel. In 1991, Saudi Prince Bandar Bin Sultan unexpectedly showed up at the Madrid Peace Conference between Israel and the Palestinians. Today, the prince presides as Secretary-General of the Saudi National Security Council, and is apparently involved in forging the Israeli-Saudi connection.
Saudi Arabia's participation in the international summit bears tremendous significance for consolidating the consensus reached at the Arab League summit of 2002, in what became known as the Arab Initiative.
Israel, under this plan, would be required to withdraw from all the territories conquered in 1967 and agree to a just solution for the refugee problem, in exchange for normalized relations with the Arab world.
So far, the Saudis have restricted their efforts to promoting the Arab Initiative, originally called the Saudi Initiative, and have refrained from taking practical steps or even making symbolic gestures aimed at realizing the plan.
While attending Bush's summit is hardly a substitute for establishing diplomatic relations with Israel, and certainly does not constitute a foundation for normalizing relations with Israel, it is nonetheless an important gesture.
It may help the Israeli leadership in showcasing the rewards that await Israel if it accepts the conditions of the Arab Initiative.
The Saudis might have well waited months before confirming their intention to participate in Bush's conference. But their decision to announce so soon is designed to send signals to other regional players.
Iran, for example, can deduce from it that the recent rapprochement with the Saudi regime - as demonstrated in Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's first-ever visit to Riyadh in March - hinges on Iran's position on the peace process.
Syria, for its part, announced it would be willing to attend even before it has been invited.
Syrian President Bashar Assad knows that in order to attend and warm up its relations with Riyadh, he must do something beyond giving speeches and talking about peace.
The Saudi presence at the meeting is beneficial to Jordan and Egypt as well.
The two partners welcome other Arab players who would attract some of the heat that they have been taking from the Arab world for maintaining relations with Israel.
Yet the Saudi presence cannot replace veritable breakthroughs in the dialogue with the Palestinians. Israel will have to make that happen.