New Clashes in West Bank Will Complicate Biden Plans for Saudi-Israel Peace Deal

TEL AVIV — President Biden’s efforts to promote Saudi-Israeli peace keep hitting roadblocks, the latest being a West Bank battle on Monday that could escalate into a major clash between the Israel Defense Forces and the Palestinians. In a scene reminiscent of the Netflix hit series Fauda, a border police unit’s incursion Monday morning went awry near Jenin, a city controlled by terrorist groups. Powerful explosive charges hit the unit’s armored vehicles in what appeared to be a well-planned ambush. Nine members of the Israeli units were lightly injured. An IDF helicopter arrived at the scene to help extract the unit members, discharging a missile for the first time since the early 2000s.Normally, the IDF would rather keep a low footprint while fighting in the West Bank. “M-16 automatic rifles are better there than F-16 fighter jets,” a former West Bank IDF commander, General Gadi Shamni, said in an interview with public broadcaster Kann. Yet, he added, to save the lives of fighters in danger, you bring whatever power you have at hand. At least five Palestinians were killed in the botched operation and dozens have been injured. World-wide condemnation is likely, and Washington may well join it. A further escalation is possible too, complicating Mr. Biden’s latest foreign policy gambit: an American-sponsored Saudi-Israeli peace. Washington has been sending envoys to Riyadh and Jerusalem almost weekly. There are many advantages to a treaty that would put Mr. Biden’s diplomatic chops on display. Expect bipartisan support in Congress. Watch how America’s Mideast leadership is reestablished. Repairing fraught relations with Saudi Arabia would stabilize global oil markets and lower inflation rates on the eve of a presidential election. The Saudis, too, can benefit. Peace with Israel and turning a new page in relation with America could help establish them as a top regional power — especially if their steep demands are met by Washington. Those include help in amassing nuclear capabilities, formal U.S defense guarantees, and access to America’s most sophisticated weapons, such as the F-35 fighter jet. If America agrees to Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s demands, he may well be willing to overlook a traditional Saudi position: no peace with Israel prior to the establishment of a Palestinian state. Prime Minister Netanyahu, meanwhile, would love to take a break from endless internal battles with opposing politicians, not to mention his own coalition partners. A battle over a judicial overhaul has marginalized issues like improving the economy, dealing with the country’s top security threats, including from Iran, and tightening diplomatic relations with global players. Mr. Netanyahu now seems eager to change the subject, and a well-received Saudi peace treaty would do the trick. Yet, regional and global realities seemingly dwarf all the benefits from adding the most powerful Arab player to the Abraham accords. The costs of Riyadh’s demands of the U.S. are likely to prove too high for some in Congress. Jerusalem too is leery of losing a historic American guarantee that Israel would maintain a military edge over all other Mideast players: MbS’s goal is “a special status for the Kingdom that is on par with Israel in the region,” a former Egyptian diplomat, Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy, writes in the Cairo Review. The crown prince, too, is not quite over the slights Mr. Biden has directed his way since day one of his presidency. The crown prince seems to hedge diplomatic bets, and may well decide to return Mr. Biden’s favor and ignore Washington’s demand to cool off relations with Communist China and other American foes. Another big sticking point: while administration envoys travel to Jerusalem almost weekly for low-profile consultations — the State Department’s Barbara Leaf is currently in Israel — Mr. Biden seems intent on publicly distancing himself from Mr. Netanyahu. On Sunday the Israeli government approved 4000 new units in an existing Jewish community on the West Bank. The cabinet also announced that from now on the finance minister, Betzalel Smotritch, an avid pro-settlement right-winger, will be in charge of such decisions, alongside Mr. Netanyahu.“The United States is deeply troubled” by these decisions, the State Department said in a quick, obligatory statement. While Palestinian advocates in Washington may scoff at such gestures as pro-forma bromides, what is Riyadh going to make of it?An American rebuke of Israel, at the same time that it all but ignores such Palestinian transgressions as this week’s brutal crackdown on activists at Bir Zeit University in the West Bank, can only reinforce the widely-held belief among Saudis that Israel is a bad player. In a diplomatic gesture, Israel this week expressed support for Riyadh’s aspiration to host a 2030 expo conference at Paris. Also, Mr. Netanyahu approved, at considerable political cost, a plan for the development of a Palestinian maritime gas field near Gaza. Such gestures are pushed aside as Washington concentrates on the latest West Bank goings on and the bigger goal, one it shares with Riyadh and Jerusalem, gradually fades like a desert mirage.

New Clashes in West Bank Will Complicate Biden Plans for Saudi-Israel Peace Deal

New Clashes in West Bank Will Complicate Biden Plans for Saudi-Israel Peace Deal

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