By New Age Islam Edit Bureau
22
September 2020
•The
End of The Saudi Era
By
Marwan Bishara
•Al-Azhar
Keeps Up Campaign Against Charlie Hebdo
By A
Correspondent In Egypt
•Israel
Installs More Loudspeakers at Al-Aqsa Mosque
By
Ahmad Melhem
•Trump
Administration Leveraged Terror Designation to Push Sudan To Recognize Israel
By
Jared Szuba
------
The End
of The Saudi Era
By
Marwan Bishara
As we
approach the second anniversary of the state-sponsored assassination of Saudi
journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Arabia continues its retreat, losing
direction and influence in the Gulf and Middle East regions.
More than
50 years after the Saudi kingdom began its rise to regional and international
prominence as the leading member of OPEC and the Organisation of Islamic
Cooperation (OIC), it now finds itself on a path of steady decline.
Home to Islam's
holiest sites and to the world's second-largest oil reserves, Saudi Arabia's
misguided policies are wasting the religious and financial clout it has
accumulated over the years.
The past
five years have been especially painful and destructive. What began as a
promising and ambitious drive by the rather Machiavellian Prince Mohammed Bin
Salman (MBS), soon turned into a reckless venture.
Guided
primarily by his mentor, the other Machiavellian prince, Mohammed Bin Zayed
(MBZ) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), MBS is running the kingdom to the
ground.
Paradoxically,
nothing testifies to the decline of Saudi Arabia more than the abrupt rise of
its junior partner as a bellicose regional power, interfering in Libya and
Tunisia and supporting dictators and war criminals, like Egypt's Abdel Fattah
el-Sisi and Syria's Bashar al-Assad.
With Riyadh
paralysed by mostly self-inflicted blows, Abu Dhabi is recklessly dashing
forward and dragging Saudi Arabia with it.
This is
also evident in MBS's support for MBZ's gambit to link Gulf security to
Israel's as a way to safeguard their rule and regional influence.
It is an
astounding reversal of roles, considering Saudi Arabia began its rise to
regional and global prominence in the late 1960s, before the UAE had even come
into existence.
Coincidental
Power
The early
rise of Saudi Arabia can be traced to the fall of Egypt's pan-Arab project
after the disastrous 1967 war, and the subsequent death of its leader Gamal
Abdel Nasser in 1970.
Already a
leading member of OPEC, Saudi Arabia organised the first meeting of the OIC in
1970 to magnify its influence beyond the Arab League, which was dominated at
the time by the secular, Soviet-friendly regimes - especially Egypt, Iraq and
Syria.
The
windfall from the oil boom after the OPEC boycott following the 1973
Arab-Israeli war further enriched Saudi Arabia and financed its petrodollar
diplomacy and influence.
Egypt's
decision to sign a peace treaty with Israel at the end of the decade all but
assured the kingdom's regional rise.
The 1978
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran elevated
Riyadh into an indispensable strategic ally for the United States in the Muslim
world.
Saudi
regional standing was strengthened further in the 1980s with Iraq and Iran drained
by a destructive eight-year war, and Syria and Israel sucked into the Lebanese
quagmire following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
The
Saudi-US alliance reached a new height during the 1980s, as Riyadh supported
the US against the Soviet Union and its clients, notably through their
successful covert assistance for the Afghan Mujahideen which ended in Soviet
withdrawal from Afghanistan by 1989, but also paved the way for the 9/11
attacks more than a decade later.
All
attempts by the likes of Iraq's Saddam Hussein to regain the regional
initiative ended in disaster. America's decisive victory in the Cold War after
the disintegration of the Eastern Bloc and the Gulf War, following the Iraqi
invasion of Kuwait and its pursuit of a double containment policy towards both
Iran and Iraq, further improved Riyadh's regional and international positions.
In 1991, a
triumphant America convened the first international Arab-Israeli "peace
conference" in Madrid. Saudi Arabia was invited, while the Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO) was formally excluded.
In short,
Arab failure has somehow led to Saudi success, whether by default or by design.
The
Saudi-American honeymoon came to an abrupt end in 2001 with al-Qaeda's 9/11
attacks in New York and Washington. Riyadh may have expelled Osama bin Laden,
the Saudi leader of al-Qaeda, a decade earlier, but 15 of the 19 hijackers were
nonetheless Saudi nationals.
Then, once
again, Riyadh was saved by circumstance, or by another American folly. The Bush
administration's decision to extend the so-called "war on terror"
beyond Afghanistan made Saudi an indispensable ally yet again.
In April
2002, President George W Bush received the de facto Saudi leader, Crown Prince
Abdullah, at his own private Texas ranch, considered a privilege to any foreign
leader. A month earlier, Abdullah was instrumental in getting the Arab League
to adopt his concocted "peace initiative" that basically committed it
to the land for peace formula in negotiations with Israel.
A year
later, the complicit Saudi regime looked on as the US invaded Iraq under false
pretences, leaving the country destroyed and the US treasury exhausted by years
of war and occupation.
From then
on, Saudi Arabia's luck began to run out.
The
Decline
Saudi
Arabia became increasingly vulnerable as its exhausted patron, the US, began to
turn its back on the region in the 2010s under the Obama administration.
The US
became the world's leading oil producer thanks to the shale revolution, and
hence less interested in Saudi or Gulf security.
It also
became less inclined to intervene militarily on behalf of its rich clients,
just when Iran's influence began to grow at the expense of Iraq.
And if that
was not enough, the US and Iran signed an international nuclear deal in 2015,
paving the way for lifting the international sanctions, emboldening the Islamic
Republic and enhancing its standing, to the chagrin of Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile,
the outbreak of the Arab uprisings across the region starting in 2011 put the
Saudi kingdom and its satellite authoritarian states on alert.
The Obama
administration's initial support for democratic reform and regime change
further complicated matters for the Saudis.
Utterly
frantic and exposed, the Saudi monarchy went on the offensive after the death
of King Abdullah, under the new leadership of King Salman and his ambitious
son, Mohammed, who was appointed the new defence minister.
Making
Saudi Arabia Great Again
Guided by
his Emirati mentor Bin Zayed, MBS wasted no time to start a war in Yemen on the
pretext of taking on the rebellious Houthis, considered allies of Tehran.
He promised
victory in weeks, but the war has dragged on for years, with no end in sight.
In June
2017, MBS and MBZ manufactured a crisis with neighbouring Qatar on the fake
pretences of countering "terrorism" and foreign interference in order
to impose a new pliant regime that would abide by their dictates.
However,
the Trump administration reversed its initial support for the planned coup and
what was meant to be a quick win has caused a major fracture in Gulf unity
which will not be easy to mend.
In November
2017, MBS lured the prime minister of Lebanon, Saad Hariri - a dual
Lebanese-Saudi national - to Riyadh, forcing him to condemn his coalition
partner, the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, and submit his resignation on live Saudi
television.
This move
also backfired causing international outrage and making the Saudi regime look
even more foolish.
Despite the
scandalous blunders, MBS rose through the ranks with every failure, becoming
crown prince in 2017. Soon after, he took over all the pillars of power and
business in the kingdom, purging princes and government officials through
abrupt incarceration, humiliation and even torture.
From then
on, the repression continued unabated against all opposition figures, including
former officials, religious figures, academics, journalists and human rights
activists, reaching a new climax with the horrific assassination and
dismemberment of Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018.
Thus, just
a few years after King Salman took power and set his young son on the path to
the throne, Saudi Arabia has come to be known for brutal violence and
recklessness rather than its generous charity and pragmatic diplomacy. In the
public eye, the country has come to be represented not by the symbol of the Red
Crescent, but the image of a bloody bone saw.
Mega
Failure
MBS's brash
adventures may have strengthened his grip on power, but they have terribly
weakened the kingdom.
Despite
hundreds of billions of Saudi arms purchases, the five-year war on Yemen - the
worst humanitarian disaster in recent years - continues unabated.
Worse
still, the blowback from the war is now felt in Saudi Arabia proper as the
Yemeni Houthis have escalated their missile attacks on the kingdom.
Once a
major Saudi achievement, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is now utterly
paralysed because of MBS's short-sighted policies.
The kingdom
that once prided itself on being a pillar of regional pragmatism and stability
has become a belligerent and destabilising force.
Ditto
Domestically.
Instead of
embarking on major political reforms to pave the way for economic
transformation, the young inexperienced MBS followed in the footsteps of the
UAE, but without its tactfulness, turning the country into a repressive police
state with the trappings of social liberalisation.
But as the
consumer drive wore off and the entertainment circus of professional wrestling
and pop concerts faded away, the kingdom was left with budget deficits and
domestic discontent.
The initial
optimism and excitement about greater social mobility and empowerment of women
soon gave way to pessimism and despair, as Saudi economic reform and
multibillion-dollar megaprojects stalled, while youth unemployment remains at a
high 29 percent.
The Saudi
kingdom is in disarray, its regime utterly disoriented and disrespected
throughout the region and beyond.
Unable to
deal with the failures or to meet the challenges ahead amid rising tensions
with Iran and Turkey, MBS is desperate. He may try for a comeback during the
upcoming G20 summit hosted by Riyadh, but that will prove too little too late.
The growing
likelihood of his American patron, Donald Trump, losing the US elections in
November, has left him high and dry.
Israel
As A Last Refuge
Instead of
reversing his destructive policies, ending the war in Yemen, reconciling with
Qatar and strengthening Gulf and Arab unity to neutralise Iran, the Saudi crown
prince has been cementing the covert alliance with Israel to pave the way towards
full normalisation with the occupier of Arab lands.
According
to a recent Wall Street Journal report, MBS has encouraged the UAE and Bahrain
to normalise ties with Israel as a prelude to imminent Saudi normalisation, but
without the consent of his father. King Salman is reportedly adamant that Saudi
Arabia normalises relations with Israel only after the emergence of a
Palestinian state.
Regardless
of whether this is true, or merely father and son playing "good cop, bad
cop" with the Palestinian cause, a diplomatic and strategic rapprochement
with Israel may prove to be the straw that broke the camel's back.
Not only is
it far-fetched for Israel to get involved in Gulf regional security, which is
already saturated with American, French, and other world powers' involvement,
but it is also unlikely, not to say unthinkable, for the "Jewish
State" to sacrifice its soldiers in defence of Gulf monarchies.
And
whatever Israel could offer in terms of know-how, technology, and arms, is
already on offer at a discounted rate by world powers.
Yes, Israel
may be trigger happy and eager to join the Saudi-Emirati "anti-democratic
league", but this will prove counterproductive, considering the degree of
Arab revulsion it may provoke.
After a
decades-long occupation and oppression of the Palestinians, Israel remains the
enemy for most people in the region, with an absolute majority of Arabs seeing
it as a threat to regional security and stability.
But MBS,
like MBZ, is mostly hedging his bets in anticipation of a likely Trump defeat
that is certain to leave him isolated or even shunned by a Joe Biden
administration.
And yes,
Israel may be able to help the discredited Saudi regime in Washington, and more
specifically in the US Congress, but that will come at a high price, including
Saudi total acquiescence to both American and Israeli hegemony.
In other
words, MBS's gamble on Israel may prove as foolish as his other gambles because
it will prove more of a burden than an asset to the kingdom.
If the US
and Trump himself could not save MBS's Saudi Arabia from imminent decline, you
can be sure Israel will not be able to, either.
----
Marwan
Bishara is the senior political analyst at Al Jazeera.
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/saudi-era-200921100612533.html
-----
Al-Azhar
Keeps Up Campaign Against Charlie Hebdo
By A
Correspondent In Egypt
Sep 21,
2020
It seems that the repercussions of the angry
Islamic reactions to derogatory cartoons of Prophet Muhammad recently
republished by French magazine Charlie Hebdo are far from over.
Egypt's
El-Nabaa newspaper published Sept. 13 a report released by the Foreign
Missions' Department under Al-Azhar Sheikhdom stating that several European
countries have refused a request from the department to open Al-Azhar offices
on their territories to welcome more Al-Azhar missionaries in those countries.
According
to the report, the Foreign Missions’ Department linked the rejection of the
request to the media campaign that Al-Azhar Grand Imam Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb
launched against Charlie Hebdo because of the republication of several
caricatures deemed offensive to Prophet Muhammad.
Tayeb had
issued a statement released in Arabic, English and French Sept. 3, stating that
insulting the prophet is a breakdown of all humanitarian and civilized values.
Several
regional newspapers and observers believe Tayeb’s statement openly criticized
French President Emmanuel Macron, as it said “justifying such insult under the
pretext of protecting freedom of expression is a misunderstanding of the
difference between the human right to freedom and the crime against humanity
under the plea of protecting freedom.”
In a press
conference Sept. 1, Macron announced that he will not forbid or condemn the
caricatures of Prophet Muhammad and justified that by saying France is a state
that “enjoys freedom of expression and opinion and freedom of the press. It is
not the president’s business at all to judge the editorial choices of a
journalist or newsroom.”
The
satirical Charlie Hebdo magazine on Sept. 2 began republishing the
controversial caricatures of Prophet Muhammad with the beginning of the trial of
al-Qaeda-affiliated members who were involved in attacking the newspaper
premises in 2015, killing 12 people and injuring 11.
A faculty
member at Al-Azhar University told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that
Al-Azhar’s Council of Senior Scholars and Tayeb did not ask Egyptian
authorities to make any official response to the French authorities’ silence
regarding the drawings under the pretext of defending freedom of expression and
opinion, or on the stubbornness of some European societies vis-a-vis the
establishment of offices for Al-Azhar administration for missions in their
countries.
However,
the source noted that few Al-Azhar faculty members wished Egyptian authorities
had issued a statement to respond to French authorities, especially regarding the
drawings.
The faculty
member said official stances of Arab governments play a key role in alleviating
the attack on Islamic sanctities and symbols and toning down hate speech
against Muslims.
Egypt and
Saudi Arabia recalled their ambassadors to Denmark in 2006 and 2008 and voiced
their official objections to several controversial drawings of the prophet
published in 2006 and republished in 2008 in the Danish Jyllands-Posten daily
newspaper. The drawings were halted in Denmark in 2008 and have not recurred in
12 years.
Although
the source wished an Egyptian or Arab stance were issued against the French
drawings and against French silence, the source said faculty members at
Al-Azhar understand Egyptian authorities' strategy in dealing with the crises
calmly and solving them through negotiations and understandings and away from
the language of condemnation “which might add insult to injury.”
The source
added, “We trust that the wise administration of President [Abdel Fattah]
al-Sisi will contribute to resolving the crisis of establishing Al-Azhar
offices in Europe, because Egyptian authorities believe that Al-Azhar is among
Egypt’s key soft power tools and a means to fighting terrorism and extremism.”
Akram Azab,
a London-based opposition journalist and former expert on Al-Azhar affairs at
Al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper, told Al-Monitor, “The Egyptian authorities might be
putting pressure on Al-Azhar to halt the campaign against Charlie Hebdo and the
French authorities, especially after the resonance of the social media campaign
dubbed ‘Everyone but the Messenger of God.’ The interests and ties between
France and Egypt are much stronger than those between Egypt and Denmark,
especially following the alliance between Egypt and France against Turkey’s
military intervention in Libya.”
Social
media activists reacted to Al-Azhar’s Sept. 3 statement with the Arabic hashtag
that translates into “Everyone but the Messenger of God.” The hashtag became
the most trending on Sept. 3-4.
Azab added
that Al-Azhar’s campaign against Charlie Hebdo and French authorities might
further complicate relations between Al-Azhar and Sisi’s regime, especially
with the tensions between them given Sisi’s call on Al-Azhar to modernize its
religious discourse, and his call to annul verbal divorce and limit issuing
fatwas to the Egyptian Dar al-Ifta rather than Al-Azhar. Several opposition
newspapers supported by the Muslim Brotherhood tackled these disputes, while
Al-Azhar denied them on several occasions.”
Al-Monitor
tried to contact Saleh Abbas, Al-Azhar’s current undersecretary, to comment on
the matter, but he did not answer his phone. And Al-Monitor's source at
Al-Azhar stressed that his institute hasn't been under any pressure from the
presidency to stop its campaign against Charlie Hebdo cartoons.
Abdul Qader
Atta, a retired professor of political science at Assiut University, ruled out
the possibility of a potential dispute over Al-Azhar’s campaign against Charlie
Hebdo and French authorities between France and Egypt on the one hand and the
Egyptian regime and Al-Azhar on the other hand. However, he indicated that this
might expedite a dialogue between politicians in Egypt and France, and perhaps
Europe as a whole, “about curbing the hate speech against Muslims, their
sanctities and symbols, because it is a main cause of terrorism and extremism.”
He argued
that French authorities have double standards in their support for freedom of
expression and opinion. Muslim minorities in Europe might feel persecuted and
react violently. He said, “France pursues anyone who denies the Holocaust, and
the French president chided a French journalist for exposing details of his
meeting with Hezbollah leaders during his visit to Beirut. Yet French
authorities did not see these pursuits or scolding of the journalist as
behavior against free speech and expression.”
https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/09/egypt-al-azhar-criticism-france-silence-charlie-hebdo.html
----
Israel
Installs More Loudspeakers At Al-Aqsa Mosque
By
Ahmad Melhem
Sep 21,
2020
Tension is ongoing at Al-Aqsa Mosque, with
daily raids by settlers and Israeli police and what is seen as an increasing
attempt by Israeli authorities to bring about changes in the mosque and
undermine the sovereignty of the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf (religious endowment).
It is also seen as an attempt to undermine the Jordanian guardianship of
Jerusalem’s holy sites and impose Israeli sovereignty.
On Sept. 6,
Israeli police set up ladders at the entrance and minaret of Bab al-Asbat Gate
and mounted them to install huge loudspeakers on the north-western wall of
Al-Aqsa Mosque. The devices were placed on the roof of Al-Aqsa High School
adjacent to the Bab al-Asbat minaret and on the roof of the Islamic School for
Girls adjacent to Al-Silsila Gate. Two devices were placed on Bab al-Hadid.
Mohammed
al-Ashhab, director of public relations and media at the Jerusalem Islamic
Waqf, told Al-Monitor the Waqf had earlier rejected a request by Israeli police
to open the door to the Bab al-Asbat minaret to cross from it to the roof of
the northern Al-Aqsa Mosque wall and install loudspeakers. After the refusal,
he explained, the police used ladders to reach the roof and forcibly installed
them.
Ashhab said
four loudspeakers have been installed on the northern and western walls of the
mosque, which are supplementary devices for surveillance cameras and sensors
that police have installed there over the past years in order to monitor the
worshippers, noting that Jordan is now associated with this new violation by
virtue of its guardianship over the mosque.
Jordan has
the right of guardianship over the Islamic and Christian holy sites in
Jerusalem, according to the Palestinian pledge of allegiance to Sharif Hussein
bin Ali on March 11, 1924, which continued until after the West Bank joined
Jordan following the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, as Jordan was the last local
authority to oversee those sanctities before Israel occupied them in 1967. The
pledge remained in force as stipulated in the Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty
signed in 1994, until President Mahmoud Abbas signed the guardianship and
sovereignty agreement with King Abdullah II on March 31, 2013.
Ashhab said
Israel is committing various violations against Al-Aqsa such as daily raids and
pursuing Waqf employees and dismissing them from the mosque. Nearly 30
dismissals have been recorded against mosque guards since the beginning of
2020, in addition to preventing Islamic Waqf restoration projects inside
Al-Aqsa — all of which were committed with the purpose of changing the
historical and legal status of the mosque.
In August
2017, Israel installed loudspeakers for the first time on the roof of the
Omariyeh College near the Bab al-Ghawanima minaret after the Bab al-Asbat
protests, which became known as the battle against electronic gates. The
addition of even more loudspeakers allows Israeli authorities to disturb
worshippers during prayer and give instructions during any confrontation or
incident at the mosque without necessarily coordinating with the Islamic Waqf.
Ekrima
Sabri, head of the Supreme Islamic Council in Jerusalem, told Al-Monitor Israel
is intensifying its monitoring tools against Al-Aqsa worshippers in order to
change the current status quo of the mosque.
The Islamic
Waqf issued a statement Sept. 6 noting that “the occupation's attempt to change
the historical, religious and legal reality in Al-Aqsa by force will never
succeed.” The statement continued, “Police plans in support of extremists and
transgressions that want to undermine the Waqf and its employees will be destroyed
by the steadfastness of the people of the city and the Mourabitoun
(self-appointed guardians of Al-Aqsa),” appealing to Jordanian King Abdullah II
personally to intervene quickly to “curb the occupation policies and eliminate
its measures that it is trying to impose by force.”
Jordanian
Minister of Awqaf Mohammed Ahmed Al-Khalayleh issued a press statement the same
day warning against “the repeated attacks by the occupation authorities against
the employees of the Islamic Waqf, who are constantly summoned for
investigation and then arrested or dismissed from their worksites in the
mosque,” stressing that the Islamic Waqf in Jerusalem is the only body with
exclusive authority to manage mosque affairs.
Israeli
authorities have escalated their measures at Al-Aqsa Mosque, and such practices
are expected to further increase in the coming weeks and months in an attempt
to achieve several goals: imposing its sovereignty and administration over the
mosque in line with the US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,
marginalizing the power and decision of the Islamic Waqf, and undermining and
weakening the Jordanian guardianship because of Jordan's position rejecting the
US Mideast peace plan and the annexation plan, specifically the annexation of
the Jordan Valley.
A senior
official in the Islamic Waqf in charge of Al-Aqsa Mosque affairs told
Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that Israel forcibly installing
loudspeakers on Al-Aqsa’s wall after the Islamic Waqf refused the request to do
so is part of its campaign to impose sovereignty and administration over
Al-Aqsa.
He said
Israel is seeking to change three aspects of Al-Aqsa Mosque. The first is to
change the historical reality so that it can overstep the powers of the
Jordanian guardianship and infringe upon it by violating the powers of the
Islamic Waqf, which is a representative of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. He
noted that it is doing so through raids, police measures, preventing projects
in the mosque, and setting up sensors and surveillance cameras without the
Waqf’s consent.
The second
aspect is the human conflict at Al-Aqsa Mosque, as Israel is working to change
and dry up the Arab and Islamic human presence in the mosque, expel the
Palestinian Jerusalemite presence, and attract settlers and a military presence
inside the mosque through dozens of dismissal notices and incessant raids, be
it against mosque guards or Mourabitoun.
The third
aspect, he added, is Israel’s endgame, which is to turn Al-Aqsa Mosque into a
place similar to the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron. The official explained, “When
Israel installs loudspeakers around the mosque and imposes its security control
over it, the Palestinian presence in the Old City [of Jerusalem] dries up, as
it controls all aspects of the mosque and prepares to implement temporal and
spatial division of the mosque and control it completely.”
Israel
continues to bring about changes to Al-Aqsa, and it does not seem to be facing
any pressure to stop. It is armed with the US decision recognizing Jerusalem as
the capital of Israel and more recently the two normalization agreements with
the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, all of which encourage it to proceed with
implementing its plan for the temporal and spatial division of the mosque.
https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/09/israel-install-loudspeakers-jerusalem-al-aqsa-mosque.html
-----
Trump
Administration Leveraged Terror Designation To Push Sudan To Recognize Israel
By
Jared Szuba
Sep 21,
2020
Late last
month, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo embarked on a last-minute trip to
Sudan amid a wider tour of the Middle East aimed at convincing Arab leaders to
establish formal ties with Israel.
The night
prior to Pompeo’s arrival in Khartoum, the State Department rushed documents
over to the White House that, if signed by the president, would formally remove
Sudan from the US’ state sponsors of terrorism list, Al-Monitor has learned.
US and
Sudanese officials had long been in talks about removing Khartoum from the
terror blacklist, and Sudan’s interim government had already largely met the
main requirement laid out by the Trump administration.
But Pompeo
raised a new proposal during his visit to Khartoum: That Prime Minister Abdalla
Hamdok call Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and immediately establish
formal ties with Israel, according to two sources briefed on the meeting.
Hamdok
demurred, reportedly saying Sudan’s transitional government did not have the
authority to do that. Back at the White House, the rescission was called off,
according to two US sources familiar with the matter.
Word of the
attempt has raised concern among some in Congress that the White House’s Middle
East advisers may have tried to circumvent the complex policy process for
delisting Sudan in hope of scoring a political win for Trump ahead of the 2020
presidential election, and with little apparent regard for Sudan’s delicate
internal politics.
A State
Department spokesperson declined to comment on the diplomatic discussions in
Khartoum, but told Al-Monitor that removing Sudan from the terror list remains
a top priority. “Rescission is a multi-step process that depends on Sudan
meeting the relevant statutory and policy criteria. Congress also plays a role
in this process,” the State Department spokesperson told Al-Monitor via email.
“We remain active in discussions with Sudan regarding the policy and statutory
requirements for consideration of potential rescission of Sudan’s SST
designation,” the spokesperson wrote. SST stands for state sponsors of terrorism.
A
spokesperson for the National Security Council referred Al-Monitor back to the
State Department.
Sudan has
been on the terror sponsors' blacklist since 1993, where it sits alongside
North Korea, Syria and Iran. Despite having harboured Osama bin Laden, Abu
Nidal and other international terrorists, former dictator Omar al-Bashir’s
government began cooperating with the United States on counterterrorism in
2001.
Last year,
Bashir was overthrown in a coup following mass protests.
Sudan’s
interim government agreed with US officials that it would come up with $335
million to settle a court ruling to compensate the families of victims of the
1998 Tanzania and Kenya embassy bombings — Washington's last significant
condition for rescinding Khartoum’s terror-sponsor designation.
The
long-awaited delisting is expected to ease the impoverished country’s access to
foreign financial assistance and development, but the process has been drawn
out.
Saudi
Arabian officials previously backed away from a White House request to help
Sudan meet the requirement, according to sources closely familiar with the
process. The Saudi government is currently fighting a lawsuit seeking to make
Riyadh pay billions in compensation to businesses, insurers, and families of
the victims of the September 11 attacks.
Sudan’s
interim government now says it is able to come up with the money, in part via a
loan from an Africa-based development bank, US and Sudanese sources say.
But the
funds had not yet been put into escrow at the time of Pompeo’s visit, and can
only be distributed after Congress passes legislation that would enshrine the
settlement agreement.
Despite a
bipartisan push to advance such a measure by the end of September, lawmakers
remain at an impasse amid opposition from Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Bob
Menendez, D-N.J.
Congressional
sources who spoke with Al-Monitor said that if the White House prematurely
delisted Sudan, it could have set the stage for an override of this decision on
Capitol Hill, throwing a major wrench into the legislative process designed to
ensure that victims’ families receive compensation.
According
to one US source briefed on the Khartoum meeting, Pompeo told the Sudanese
leader that recognizing Israel would ease the legislation’s passing through
Congress. Foreign Policy first reported details of Pompeo’s request.
“It may
have seemed from the Sudanese perspective a bit disingenuous for Pompeo to say
they can fast-track the delisting, when he might not have been able to do so,”
according to Hilary Mossberg, policy director for The Sentry, a group of
researchers who track illicit money flows in Africa.
Sources on
the Hill told Al-Monitor that since Pompeo’s trip, the administration has
signaled that it intends to cooperate with the legislative process. Pompeo sent
letters to Senators Chris Coons and Mitch McConnell urging lawmakers to advance
the de-listing process by the end of the month, citing a "narrow
window" posed by the upcoming continuing resolution legislation, Foreign
Policy revealed on Friday.
But one
congressional aide said on the condition of anonymity that the administration
has ignored multiple requests for lawmakers to be briefed on the Khartoum
meeting and on the White House’s intentions moving forward.
Pompeo has
spoken to Sudan's prime minister at least twice since their meeting last month,
according to sources familiar with the discussions. Only one of those calls has
been announced by the State Department.
News of the
attempt has raised further questions about the administration’s methods to
convince Middle Eastern leaders to recognize Israel ahead of Trump’s reelection
bid.
Last month,
senior White House adviser and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is directing
the initiative, said the administration was not pressuring Gulf states to recognize
Israel because “a relationship that is built on pressure is not one that is
going to last.”
“Countries
will do things that are in their interests to do,” Kushner said.
Reports
that the Trump administration secretly offered the United Arab Emirates the
chance to buy advanced F-35 fighter jets with the Israeli prime minister’s
knowledge reportedly led to bafflement in Congress and sharp criticism by
Israeli officials.
The UAE and
Bahrain signed their agreement to normalize relations with Israel at the White
House on Tuesday, with Sudan’s charge d’affaires, Amira Agarib, reportedly in
attendance.
On
September 17, a senior State Department official dangled the possibility of
upgrading Qatar to the status of US non-NATO ally after Doha’s deputy foreign
minister said her government does not intend to recognize Israel without a
two-state solution for the Palestinians.
Sources
familiar with Pompeo’s meeting in Khartoum also expressed concern that Sudan’s
unelected transitional government may face political opposition if its leaders
unilaterally agree to recognize Israel.
Sudan’s
Foreign Ministry spokesman Haidar Badawi al-Sadiq was abruptly fired last month
after publicly saying the government was “looking forward to a peace agreement
with Israel based on Khartoum's interests without sacrificing the values.”
Nonetheless,
there are signs Sudanese leaders are open to future ties with the Jewish state.
In
February, one of the transitional government’s top leaders, Lt. Gen. Abdel
Fattah al-Burhan, met with Netanyahu in Uganda, leading to an agreement to open
Sudanese airspace to Israeli commercial flights. That meeting was set up in
part by the US State Department, according to Al-Monitor’s sources.
Pompeo also
met with Burhan in the Sudanese capital after sitting down with Hamdok last
month.
According
to two sources briefed on the conversation, Burhan did not outright reject
Pompeo’s suggestion that Sudan recognize Israel, but mentioned that his
government needed several billion dollars to help offset the country’s
staggering debt.
On Sunday,
Axios reported that Prime Minister Hamdok's chief of staff would meet with the
UAE's national security council advisor Tahnoun bin Zayed and the head of Gulf
affairs at the US National Security Council, Brig. Gen. Miguel Correa, in Abu
Dhabi this week to discuss the prospect of Sudan recognizing Israel in exchange
for humanitarian and economic aid, as well as the de-listing of from the terror
sponsors' list.
Sudan’s
ambassador to the United States, Noureddin Satti, alluded to Pompeo's request
in an interview with Newsweek earlier this month. “Sudan’s position on this
issue has been clearly pronounced by the transitional government,” Satti said.
“To my
mind, removal of the SST and other positive actions that follow should be an
incentive rather than a conditionality.”
https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/09/sudan-israel-trump-pompeo-kushner.html
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