US President Donald Trump’s plan to take over Gaza will imperil attempts to forge landmark ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel and fuel anti-American sentiment in the oil-rich kingdom, according to researchers that study the Middle East.
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Trump’s proposal to redevelop Gaza and oust the more than two million Palestinians living in the territory prompted a global backlash and enraged the Arab world, making it difficult for the Saudis to consider normalisation.
“If this is going to be his policy, he shut the door on Saudi recognition of Israel,” James Dorsey, researcher at the Middle East Institute of the National University of Singapore, told reporters.
Recognition of Israel by Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s holiest sites, is seen as a grand prize of Middle East diplomacy intended to calm chronic tensions in the region.
But Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter and the Middle East’s largest economy, now faces the spectre of instability on its borders if neighbouring Jordan and Egypt suddenly house large numbers of Gaza exiles.
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At the same time, Riyadh must maintain cordial relations with Washington, its long-time security guarantor and bulwark against key regional player Iran.