Saudi Arabia's interference in the internal affairs of Yemen and Bahrain and its deployment of military troops in these countries to help quell the peaceful anti-government protests bring to mind the atrocious and brutal policies and actions of the Israeli regime in the Middle East.
On March 15, Aljazeera reported that "hundreds of Saudi troops have entered Bahrain to help protect government facilities there amid escalating protests against the government." The same day, Reuters published video footages of Saudi troops entering Bahrain in armored vehicles.
According to the media reports, Saudi troops entered Bahrain following the appeal of the tiny Persian Gulf country to its Arab allies to come to its help for silencing the angry protesters who were for days holding massive rallies in different cities and calling for the dissolution of the Al Khalifa regime and the establishment of a democratic government.
The arrival of Saudi and Emirati troops in Bahrain, who were supposed to put down the igniting flames of revolution, was responded by the indignation of the people that were steadfast in their position and were not willing to surrender in the face of the government's policy of provocation and intimidation.
According to an unnamed Saudi official, 1,000 Saudi Arabian troops were dispatched to Bahrain. This comes while the other strategic ally of Bahrain, the UAE, sent 500 police officers to the country. On March 14, "witnesses told the Reuters news agency that about 150 Saudi Arabian armored troop carriers plus other vehicles [have] entered Bahrain on the causeway that links the two kingdoms."
A few days after the Saudi forces entered Bahrain, the major Shiite opposition group Al-Wefaq described the move as a declaration of war and occupation. Actually, they were right. Saudi Arabia's deployment of troops in Bahrain was not something which could be consigned to oblivion. The opposition groups in Bahrain were angry because the territorial integrity of their country was violated, and this was a practice that the Israeli regime had propagated in the region.
From every aspect, Saudi Arabia's interference in Bahrain and its complicity with the government in its bloody crackdown on the protesters who demanded social, political and religious reforms in the structure of the government seems to be inexcusable and beyond the pale. Like the rest of Arab nations, Bahraini people for long have faced discrimination, social and economic inequalities and suppression. The Shiites constitute some 70% of Bahrain's population, but they are not allowed to serve in sensitive governmental posts, even in the police office. They are also deprived of their most essential rights. Amnesty International and other human rights groups have frequently decried and condemned the deplorable situation of Shiite prisoners, who are irresponsibly tortured and even killed in the Al Khalifa jails.
Saudi Arabia's support for such a government that denies its own citizen their most fundamental rights portrays a hateful and detestable image of Saudi Arabia in the eyes of Bahraini people and other nations in the region and can be reminiscent of the actions of Israeli regime which for more than 6 decades has suppressed the defenseless and subjugated nation of Palestine.
However, there is more than a similarity in actions and policies linking Saudi Arabia to Israel. Despite a lack of official relations, these two repressive regimes have maintained underground ties for so long and assisted each other in strategic affairs. One of their points of agreement is Iran. According to a July 5, 2009 report published by Sunday Times, "the head of Mossad, Israel's overseas intelligence service, has assured Benjamin Netanyahu, its prime minister, that Saudi Arabia would turn a blind eye to Israeli jets flying over the kingdom during any future raid on Iran's nuclear sites."
"Earlier this year Meir Dagan, Mossad's director since 2002, held secret talks with Saudi officials to discuss the possibility. The Israeli press has already carried unconfirmed reports that high-ranking officials, including Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister, held meetings with Saudi colleagues," the report added.
An official told Sunday Times that if Israel would quietly perform the operation, Saudi Arabia would not object to the flyover. Notably, former US Ambassador to the United Nations and advocate of a strike on Iran John Bolton said, "None of them would say anything about it publicly but they would certainly acquiesce in an over-flight if the Israelis didn't trumpet it as a big success."
Over the past years, the Saudi Arabian regime took steps toward renormalizing its ties with Israel. The Saudi's advocacy of the so-called Middle East peace process by which the Palestinian Authority will be forced to officially recognize the state of Israel indicates the willingness of Al Saud to come closer to Israel and put an end to the apparent hostility between the two sides.
Actually, the Saudi Arabian officials have never hesitated to make known their partnership with the Israeli regime, despite their claims that they don't recognize Tel Aviv and have preconditions, including an assurance by the Israelis that the Palestinian refugees would be allowed to return to their homeland, for sitting at the negotiation table with the Israeli officials; however, the fact is that Saudi Arabia has never been genuinely concerned about the cause of the Palestinian people and even betrayed them on various occasions.
In February 2010, the Arab media published a photo of Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon shaking hands with former Saudi Intelligence Chief Turki al-Faisal in the sidelines of a security meeting in Munich. Marc Lynch of the "Foreign Policy" analyzed this handshake an interest maneuver.
"While it might not seem like much, the picture of the handshake has rocketed through Arab politics and has become the focal point for an unusually blunt public discourse on the well-known reality of official Arab ties to Israel," wrote Lynch.
"The way the story is playing out is an object lesson in the power of publicity in Arab politics and in the limits of the much-mooted new "alliance" between Arabs and Israel against Iran. It shows both that many Arab leaders are indeed perfectly willing to work with the Israelis," he added.
In an analysis of the relationships between Saudi Arabia and Israel, the American political analyst John J. Xenakis quoted "Debka" subscriber-only newsletter as writing that "Saudi Arabia and Israel have been cooperating quietly on issues of shared interest for three years starting in the days of Netanyahu's predecessor, Ehud Olmert. But the basis of understanding has broadened and strengthened in the four months since the fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and the falling-out between Abdullah and President Barack Obama over the latter's Middle East policy."
He added that Israelis and Saudis are not afraid of publicizing their clandestine ties, "When the Israeli prime minister met Obama at the White House Friday, May 20, he made no secret of the relationship he had set in motion with Riyadh. Netanyahu let it be understood that his own Palestinian steps had been coordinated with the Saudis and through them with the GCC Gulf emirates and Jordan's King Abdullah II."
Anyway, the reality is that Saudi Arabia is following in the Israeli footsteps and has no constraint in letting the world know that it can betray the Palestinian nation, cooperate with Tel Aviv in its ominous plots against Iran and help with the autocratic regimes of the Persian Gulf in repressing their own people. This is why we can think about the fact that Saudi Arabia is an emerging Israel in the Middle East.
KZ/PKH
1 comment:
Excellent, objective article. Thank you for not being afraid of speaking the truth.
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