US President Donald Trump talks to reporters before boarding Air Force One for a day of campaign rallies in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Nebraska, at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, October 27, 2020. (Evan Vucci/AP)

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that there are up to 10 countries that he expects to soon normalize relations with Israel, but that the developments would largely happen after next week’s presidential elections.

Asked if there were more countries in the Middle East that would follow the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Sudan who all recently opened diplomatic relations with Israel, Trump said there were more on the way, without specifying exactly how many or which countries they were.

“We have five, but really have probably nine or ten that are right in the mix, we’re going to have a lot, I think we’ll have all of them eventually,” he told reporters at Andrews Air Force Base before hitting the campaign trail.

Get The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition by email and never miss our top storiesFREE SIGN UP

“The beauty is there’s peace in the Middle East with no money and no blood,” he continued. “There’s no blood all over the sand. We have five definites and I think we’ll have another five pretty much definites. And all of them, the big ones, the smaller ones.”

Asked if agreements would come before or after the November 3 election, Trump said “largely after.”

On Saturday, Channel 12 news reported that Israeli officials believe an agreement with Oman could come in the near future, possibly even before the US election.

The station also reported that Mossad Chief Yossi Cohen has stated he believes Saudi Arabia will normalize ties with Israel, but will do so after the US election, to capitalize fully on such a decision with whoever is the next president.

The report said Israel believes any such Saudi decision will be cushioned by a significant arms deal with Washington, similar to the US agreement to sell advanced weaponry to the United Arab Emirates, which Israel has approved, but which has proven highly controversial in Jerusalem.

On Friday, Trump announced that Israel and Sudan would be making peace, and predicted that Saudi Arabia would soon follow.

During a call with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Sudan Sovereign Council president General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, Trump brought reporters into the Oval Office and announced: “The State of Israel and the Republic of Sudan have agreed to make peace.”

He also told reporters there were another five countries “that want to come in.”

“We expect Saudi Arabia will be one of those countries,” Trump added, as he praised the country’s “highly respected” rulers King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

In the past, Trump has also mentioned the possibility of Kuwait normalizing with Israel.

Earlier on Tuesday, Defense Minister Benny Gantz referenced a Lebanese willingness for peace, though the remarks were made within the context of technical maritime border talks taking place between the enemy countries.

US President Donald Trump, center, with from left, Bahrain Foreign Minister Abdullatif al-Zayani, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan, during the Abraham Accords signing ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House, September 15, 2020, in Washington. (Alex Brandon/AP)

The last several months have seen a flurry of diplomatic activity as the US has brokered diplomatic pacts, known as the Abraham Accords, between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, who joining Jordan and Egypt as the only Arab countries to have official ties with Israel.

The Islamic Republic of Muaritania established diplomatic relations with Israel in 1999, but cut them off a decade later.

Netanyahu has made it a priority to forge ties with formerly hostile countries in Africa and the Arab world in the absence of any progress with the Palestinians during his more than a decade in office. Even before the Abraham Accords, Israel and the Gulf had formed a furtive united front against their common adversary Iran.

The recent normalization pacts with Israel have undermined the traditional Arab consensus that there can be no normalization with Israel before the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, angering Ramallah.

The Palestinians say the agreements amount to betrayal, while Israel says the Palestinians have lost what they have seen as their “veto” power over regional peace efforts.

Source: https://www.timesofisrael.com/trump-says-up-to-10-middle-east-countries-lining-up-to-normalize-with-israel/

The post Trump: Up to 10 countries set for peace with Israel, ‘largely after’ elections first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Causes of Russian unease

Russian Federation should have found comfort in its successes after three years of intense military and diplomatic efforts, and in the fact that it now has two major regional allies, Iran and Turkey. Nevertheless, it is still quite uneasy. Among the reasons for the discomfort is that the US has taken over some regions in the northeast of Syria which are rich in oil, gas and water resources. While Russians have about 20,000 soldiers inside Syria, in addition to other official and non-official militias, the United States has more than 5,000 military personnel in that country, along with Kurdish and other Arab militias in al-Tanif. It was believed that after defeating ISIS, US will draw down its troops. However, Americans have now announced plans to raise 30,000 Kurdish forces that would preserve the security of these areas and block the return of ISIS. This development was challenged by Turkish intervention in Afrin, but more importantly by the Sochi Conference. Russia hurriedly tried to abandon the Geneva track and build a political solution acceptable to Iranians and to reluctant Turks. However, the United States masterminded the absence of Syrian opposition at the Sochi Conference, which led to its failure.

The new face of the conflict is between Russians and Americans, which now overshadows the entire Arab scene

Radwan al-Sayed

The third reason for Russia’s unease is that after its attempt at imposing a political solution broke down the allies of Putin and Lavrov started making several demands. In fact, Russia now has three allies, instead of two — namely Iran, Turkey and Israel. Iran and Turkey have their troops and proxy militias inside Syrian territory, which could face off each other because of their competing interests. As for Iran, it cannot wait to get closer to the Israeli and Jordanian borders, and has already come close to Lebanon. Israel is threatening to wage war, and Russia must prevent it by putting pressure on both sides. If the fighting erupts, no one can predict when it will end and what will its repercussions be. This will certainly upset Russia’s position in Syria. In fact, the prospect of an Iranian-Israeli clash is already being discussed in Syria and perhaps even in Lebanon.

The United States is not sitting pretty either; because it doesn’t want to get involved in the Turkish-Kurdish conflict. It knows that Russians, Iranians and the Syrian regime have an interest in dragging it into the melee just like them. However, Washington is more comfortable in Syria than Russia is and appears to have taken the country “hostage” and has warned it won’t release it until after ensuring the security of Syrian Kurds and finding a political solution that ensures throwing militias out of the country.

US-Russia conflict in Arab theatres

In the meantime, Russia is feeling embarrassed at the Security Council because of the siege and killing of civilians, the use of chemical weapons and the political impasse. As such, the scene has changed and Russia has become the figure of domination and hegemony, which is drawing condemnation for exercising its vetoes! Russia confronts such opposition by asserting that it plans a four-fold increase in the strength of its military and wishes to put to test its new weapons, even though Russia is currently fighting those who have no aircraft, artillery, tanks and rockets. Russians know that it is not a question of who has the bigger weapon because power has many facets and the United States has even bigger capacities.

This is the new face of the conflict between Russians and Americans, which now overshadows the entire scene! Where are Arabs? Well, they are in big trouble. The entire fighting is taking place on their lands and those who are being killed and displaced come from Syria, Yemen, Libya, and Iraq. They cannot seek comfort in the idea that the United States is closer to them than it is to Turkey and Iran.

However, Trump stands with Israel on a variety of issues and central to them are questions of Jerusalem and the peace process. Just like Russia is suffering under the pressure of the veto in Syria, the US suffers under the pressure of the veto regarding Palestine and Jerusalem. Finally, all Arabs don’t have the capacity to confront any of the two major sides and start a rivalry or enmity with them. With the exception of Palestine, they cannot agree on the most minor issues. They are unable to find solutions even in cases that are not under the scope of the US-Russian conflict, such as Libya.

The absent Arab diplomacy

Furthermore, their relations with regional parties – such as Turkey and Iran range from bad to worse. There is even no coordination so far with the two parties, even on the issue of Palestine. As for Iran, it has ambitions in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, which are similar to Israel’s colonizing ambitions in Palestine. Turkey, which seems eager to lift the siege on Gaza, doesn’t feel the need to coordinate its stance with Arabs. It has a good relationship with Israel but has issues with Egypt, over Sudan and on the offshore gas fields, wherein it uses Cyprus as a pretext!

The only relief in this growing scenario of conflict between America and Russia is that the two sides don’t really wish to fit each other, as is the case with most nuclear-weapon states. Nevertheless, neither of them is ready to seriously work with the other — even under the aegis of the UN Security Council — to find political solutions to various problems. Even on Yemen, where neither of them have any interests or political gain, they prefer to clash.

The absence of Arabs in resolving issues facing Iraq, Libya, Lebanon and Syria was a tragedy. However, the problem has become even more acute now as these countries have become more susceptible to breaking apart and being colonized by militias belonging to other countries — the latest being Russian mercenaries whom Americans killed in Deir al-Zour.

This article is also available in Arabic.

_____________
Radwan al Sayed is a Lebanese thinker and writer who attained a bachelor degree from the Faculty of Theology at al-Azhar University and a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Tübingen in Germany. He has been a scholar of Islamic studies for decades and is the former editor-in-chief of the quarterly al-Ijtihad magazine. Radwan is also the author of many books and has written for Arab dailies such as al-Ittihad, al-Hayat and ash-Sharq al-Awsat.

Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2018/03/04/Cold-War-like-conflicts-in-the-region-and-the-Arab-dilemma-.html

The post Cold War-like conflicts in the region and the Arab dilemma first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The move – mandated by Congress but waived for national security reasons for 22 years – could potentially complicate peace efforts in the Middle East. The Palestinian Authority and rest of the Arab world opposes the move, but the Israeli government would welcome the acknowledgment of Jerusalem as its capital — something no other nation has done.

The plan, outlined to reporters Tuesday night by three senior administration officials on condition of anonymity ahead of a formal announcement, is still in its early stages. It could still take years to find a site for the new embassy, get funding, and build and secure the facility, the officials said. There are about 1,000 U.S. diplomatic personnel at the current U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv, with a smaller existing consulate in Jerusalem.

Until the new embassy opens, the officials said, Trump will continue to waive the Jerusalem Embassy Act. That 1995 law that requires the president to move the embassy to Jerusalem, or else give Congress a notice every six months that it’s not in the national security interest of the United States to do so.

It’s that waiver forcing Trump’s hand this week. Trump waived the embassy move in June; his second waiver was due on Monday.

Trump, who prides himself on his negotiating skills, has been seeking what he calls “one of the toughest deals of all” – an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement that would finally end decades of failed and frustrating diplomacy.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of Trump’s official announcement, said the president would portray the move as an acknowledgement of a historical and political fact: That Jerusalem has always been Israel’s capital city and seat of government.

Yet Jerusalem is a major point in controversy: While Israel sees Jerusalem as its undivided, “eternal” capital, the Palestinians also claim east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, and no other country has its Israeli embassy in Jerusalem. Israel captured east Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed it.

In his address from the White House Wednesday, Trump will also signal to the Arab world that he remains committed to the Middle East peace process, the officials said. Trump will say he’s still open to a two-state solution that would have Israel and Palestine coexist as separate nations, and that existing borders should be respected until a final agreement.

More: Trump pushes for Middle East peace, ‘one of the toughest deals of all’

More: Jerusalem has history of many conquests, surrenders

More: Why declaring Jerusalem as Israel’s capital could cause a furor on the Middle East

Trump called Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Tuesday ahead of the announcement.

The Palestinian Authority said Trump told President Mahmoud Abbas that he would move the embassy, and that Abbas warned him the decision could derail the Middle East peace process.

Yet Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Tuesday that Trump was “pretty solid in his thinking at this point.”

European allies have begun lining up against the move. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met Tuesday with European leaders in Belgium, where the status of Jerusalem was a key question.

“A way must be found through negotiations to resolve the status of Jerusalem as the future capital of both states so that the aspiration of both parties can be fulfilled,” said European Union High Representative Federica Mogherini.

More: Palestinians, Arab League warn U.S. not to recognize Jerusalem as Israeli capital

More: Kushner talks Middle East peace Sunday, not special counsel investigation

Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/12/06/trump-move-u-s-embassy-israel-jerusalem/919927001/

The post Trump will begin process to move U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, officials say first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.