Sunday 27 January 2013
Israel’s Secret Alliance with The Persian Gulf’s Arab States Against Iran
Since Saddam Hussein’s Invasion of Kuwait,
GCC states have collectively established a strong alliance with Israel.
This alliance is currently focused on the destruction of Iran and the
elimination of Iranian influence throughout the Middle East (and Central
Asia). Both Israel and GCC countries are scared livid of the Iranian
regime, its influence in their states and are therefore necessarily
committed to this common goal. But this is a strategic mistake – for
both GCC states and Israel. They have confused Iran’s regime with
ordinary Iranians. Their beef is with the Mullahs NOT Iranians. This is a
strategic blunder.
The Palestinian Factor
For decades Israel and the ‘whole’ Arab world
were blood enemies. Arab league members provided over $250 Million in
funds to support the Palestinians since the ‘60s, and successfully
organized an embargo with their oil supplies in the 1970’s to place
pressure on Israel (and its allies: US and Europe).
But, in 1990, there was a tidal shift in
alliances. When Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, Yasser Arafat (then PLO
Chairman) came out and publicly supported Hussein; and Kuwait’s
Palestinian population rose in support of the Iraqis during the
invasion. And not long after the U.S. led liberation, the Kuwaitis
expelled 450,000 Palestinians. The Palestinian population in these
booming Persian “Gulf Arab” states has now dwindled by about 90% since
1990, replaced by Pakistanis and Filipinos.
Kuwait’s allies: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE and
other Persian Gulf Monarchs or Sheikhdoms or dictators (depending on
your point of view) have rationalized that Palestinians were and still
are a national security risk and should not be trusted – nor supported.
Payback against Saddam Hussein did not take
long. Ironically, Saddam Hussein who was once supported to the tune of
billions of dollars by these same states in his war with Iran was also
in their cross hairs. And within a decade, or so the U.S. stationed
itself in Qatar, and transported troops through Kuwait to decimate his
regime. Hussein had not only failed to follow to destroy Iran, but had
turned against them!
In politics it seems – the enemy of my enemy
is my friend! In fact, the opening with Israel came on the heels of the
Madrid Conference in 1991 that contributed to the countries’ official,
rapprochement with Israel. Most of the ‘brokerage’ in these
relationships has developed through close relations with Jewish
organizations in the United States. There is now an odd sense of
solidarity arising out of the knowledge that Iraqi Scud missiles had
fallen on both Riyadh and Tel Aviv.
In 1994, the GCC canceled its boycott of
companies and countries that maintained economic ties with Israel. In
2005 the same Gulf States announced normalization measures with Israel.
The Bahraini foreign minister confirmed that his country had decided to
cancel the boycott of Israeli goods, and the Qatari foreign minister
called on Arab nations “to respond positively to the step taken by
Israel.” He noted that “full diplomatic relations between Qatar and
Israel may be possible even before a comprehensive Israeli withdrawal
from the territories.”
And while this decade long strategic shift
was occurring, the British government sold its stake in BP basically to a
combination of Jewish Bankers (Rothschilds Holdings 39%) and Gulf State
Investment Organizations like for example the Kuwait Investment
Organization (21.6% by 2005). BP now, is basically an arm of these
states, while employing and banking primarily British executives and
banks.
And Israel’s government, for its part is
enabling Israeli companies to indirectly contribute to the security of
these dictatorships through training of local armed forces and by
offering advanced (homeland security-related) advanced products, as long
as they are perceived not to harm Israel’s strategic competitive
advantage. Israel already has access to markets in the Gulf; the boycott
is not applied if the products do not carry an Israeli label.
Israel’s covert relations with the United
Arab Emirates were partially exposed by the late-November 2010 leak of
diplomatic cables by the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks that
uncovered the “secret and persistent dialogue” between the two
countries.
There are numerous formal and informal visits
between the nations (and with Turkey among the crowd). Whether or not
there are formal relations, i.e. embassies, it’s very clear that there
is a strong alliance in place. Israelis and Sheikhdoms are ONE.
The Iran Factor More
Posted @ 09:31
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