The conflict also underscored the tension between those officials in Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia who are aligned with Washington and support the peace process with Israel...one of these things is not like the others. egypt and jordan both have a peace treaty and diplomatic relations with israel. saudi arabia does not. both jordan and egypt often act as intermediaries between israel and other entities in the arab world. saudi arabia does not. egypt and jordan permits people with israeli stamps in their passports to enter their country. saudi arabia does not.
but wait, the sentence continues:
...and those in Qatar and Syria who have developed close political and economic ties with Iran.qatar? why is saudi arabia in the "amenable to relations with israel" camp and qatar is not? unlike the KSA, qatar has trade relations with israel (or at least it did up until the recent gaza conflict). while they don't have full diplomatic relations, qatar's leaders have been talking with israel's leaders. even syria, a regime viewed as overtly hostile to israel, has at least been negotiating with israeli leaders through an intermediary in the past year. saudi arabia hasn't even done that. the only reason that qatar gets to be on the bad list is because they also have relatively good relations with iran.
the u.s. media keeps classifying saudi arabia as a non-hostile-to-israel country (what it calls "moderate"). and yet, it seems to me that the KSA is less compromising than countries like syria, one that is always on the bad-for-israel (i.e. "extreme") list. it is true that the saudi king proposed a peace plan in 2002, but he proposed it through and on behalf of the arab league. as with qatar the only plausible explanation for the saudi's preferential treatment is the fact that their government is hostile to iran. apparently that fact trumps the kingdom's actual hostility to israel and puts it on the non-hostile list. the AIPAC folks keep pushing the idea that iran is the anti-israel. i think this grouping is just a measure of their success. by that logic anyone who is anti-iran, must be pro-israel. and so the KSA, one of the least "moderate" countries in the region in terms of government, human rights, stance towards its neighbors, religion, dress code, etc., gets to be called "moderate" anyway.
