The Palestinians feel betrayed by Saudi Arabia for recently going public about the long-term, but secret (or at least not admitted) Saudi security relationship with Israel. Now the Saudis and Qatar are openly working on more cooperation deals that will not be secret. The Palestinians should not have been surprised at this move because the oil-rich Arab Gulf states have long urged the Palestinians to unite and negotiate a peace deal with Israel. The Jordanians and Egyptians are living proof that such deals work to the benefit of all concerned. The continued division of the Palestinian into Hamas and Fatah factions and apparent unwillingness of the both of them to really cooperate or try to make peace with each other and Israel has many Arab states giving up on their support of the Palestinian cause which, according to both Fatah and Hamas, is the destruction of Israel. The Arab donor states are also angry at the continued corruption and mismanagement and how that cripples the effectiveness of billions in aid donated to the Palestinians. Given the growing threat from Iran the Arab Gulf states have done the math and concluded that they need Israel more than they need divided, corrupt and uncooperative Palestinians.
That’s a nice thought, but it would require the Palestinians to give up terror and their nonsensical “right of return,” and for Israel’s neighbors to finally shut down the refugee camps and welcome millions of former Palestinians as new citizens.
And it’s impossible to say which element is the most unlikely.
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