Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) actually fears deadly reprisal from his own relatives if he joined the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Sudan in normalizing ties with Israel, an anti-regime activist says.
Dissident Saudi academic Madawi al-Rasheed dismissed as unfounded recent allegations by American-Israeli millionaire, Haim Saban, that the reluctance of the kingdom’s de facto ruler to take a step forward to recognize the Tel Aviv regime was due to his fear of reactions from Iran, Qatar or "his own people."
She highlighted that none of those three constituencies are contemplating an assassination, and that the Saudi crown prince’s nightmare is to get killed by his royal rivals as his ambitious scenario is to rule as a king.
Rasheed went on to say that any assassinations in Saudi Arabia have been historically carried out by members of the House of Saud.
The dissident academic noted that Saudi princes and kings have been killed by a brother, uncle or nephew since the 19th century. The last murder in the palace took place in 1975, when King Faisal was shot dead by his young nephew, also called Faisal.
Revenge, treachery and power struggles within the royal household were simply behind such murders. Neither the Palestinian cause nor any other cause was responsible for the homicides.
Rasheed underlined that MbS will not rush into publicizing his relations with the Israeli regime if he can keep them secret, and he and his father, King Salman, will continue to make noises about respecting the so-called defunct Arab Peace Initiative – which calls for Israel’s complete withdrawal from the Palestinian territories occupied after 1967 in exchange for peace and the full normalization of relations.
The Saudi social anthropologist added that MbS would continue to deploy his media resources to erode Arab public support for the Palestinian cause, until the Riyadh regime’s normalization with Israel becomes a fait accompli, and the move would not jeopardize his life or undermine the legitimacy of the ruling Al Saud regime.
US President Donald Trump announced on October 23 at the White House that Sudan and Israel had agreed to normalize relations.
Trump sealed the agreement in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and Burhan, senior US officials said.
Sudan’s acting Foreign Minister Omar Gamareldin, however, later said the accord will depend on approval from its yet-to-be formed legislative council.
It is unclear when the assembly will be formed under a power-sharing deal between the country’s military officers and civilians.
Earlier, Netanyahu signed US-brokered normalization deals with Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani during a September 15 ceremony at the White House.
The normalization deals have drawn widespread condemnation from Palestinians, who seek an independent state in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital. They say the deals ignore their rights and do not serve the Palestinian cause.
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