Trump’s Quiet Meeting with Saudi Arabia and Israel Portends a Dangerous Collision Course with Iran

• Trump’s Quiet Meeting with Saudi Arabia and Israel Portends a Dangerous Collision Course with Iran
  by Phyllis Bennis, https://www.commondreams.org/
  An under-the radar gathering at the White House exposes troubling new drifts in U.S. foreign policy.
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  It was a lot to take in, even in these whipsawed media moments.
  In one 24-hour news cycle, President Donald Trump fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, appointed the war and torture-backing CIA chief Mike Pompeo to replace him, and then tapped Gina Haspel—who covered up CIA torture in Thailand—to replace Pompeo.
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  While the media descended on that circus, many missed that the White House quietly convened high-level representatives of 20 countries ostensibly to “brainstorm” about the crisis in Gaza, where Israel’s repeated military incursions and blockade have devastated the territory’s infrastructure, health and water systems.
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  The gathering, which took place on March 13, was less splashy than the Tillerson-Pompeo-Haspel saga. But it spoke volumes about dangerous new drifts in U.S. foreign policy.
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  Look who’s in the room together
  The United States has long backed Israel’s siege of Gaza and defended Tel Aviv’s succession of military assaults on the impoverished, densely populated territory of 2 million.
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  So the notion that Trump, whose uncritical support for the Israeli government surpasses that of any of his predecessors, is suddenly concerned about mitigating the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza seems pretty far-fetched. Especially when Israel, the country most immediately responsible for the destruction of Gaza, was one of the nations playing a starring role in the White House gathering.
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  On the humanitarian front, little came of the meeting. Officially, Reuters reports, “the multi-nation humanitarian and reconstruction effort remains in beginning stages.” More significant than the outcome, however, is the grouping the meeting brought together.
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  The gathering featured Europeans, Israelis, Egyptians and representatives of most of the Gulf Arab monarchies—Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan, Qatar, Oman, and Bahrain—all sitting in the room together. Not included were Palestinians, who have been clear they won’t follow U.S. diplomatic leadership since Trump’s provocative decision to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.
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  According to Reuters, unnamed officials insisted that “the format did not allow for direct discussions between Israel and the Arab states.” But that is likely not the end of the story.
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  It’s been clear for a long time that Israel and the Gulf monarchies, led by Saudi Arabia, are desperate to cozy up to each other. Both are U.S. allies and huge purchasers of U.S. arms. And both rely on U.S. diplomatic protection at the United Nations to avoid accountability for their human rights violations. And most importantly, at this moment, both sides are eager to join forces against Iran.
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  Saudi Arabia and Iran have been battling for regional dominance for a long time. Their competition has stoked a brutal proxy conflict in Syria, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has orchestrated a devastating attack on Yemen as a challenge to Iran’s influence there.
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  Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to persuade the United States to abandon the nuclear deal and attack Iran have served as a backdrop to Israel’s regional policy for years.
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  At a quiet Washington meeting supposedly discussing something quite unrelated, they were all sitting down together — ahead of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s own visit to Washington.
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