“A Rare Moment” Trump Has an Opportunity to Conclude 5 Arab-Israeli Peace Agreements
“A Rare Moment” Trump Has an Opportunity to Conclude 5 Arab-Israeli Peace Agreements
2025-02-04 05:46
Shafaq News/ The American newspaper “The Hill” reported that there is an opportunity for US President Donald Trump to reach 5 peace agreements in the Middle East, after the balance of power tipped in an unprecedented way in favor of the United States and its allies, thanks to the Israeli military superiority supported by Washington.
The American report, translated by Shafaq News Agency, referred to the strikes that Israel has dealt in recent months to “our common enemy”, as it put it, represented by Iran and the “axis of resistance”, as the Lebanese Hezbollah has become “in a deplorable state, and its leadership is disintegrated”, while the Hamas movement has been subjected to “severe blows that have caused it to lose its previous identity”, while Syria, which was the main link between Tehran and Lebanon, witnessed the end of the rule of the Assad family after a weak Iran retreated and Russia became preoccupied, adding that “the new regime in Damascus, despite its flaws, considers Tehran a sworn enemy”.
The report continued, “Iran itself committed a grave mistake by launching direct attacks against Israel, a reckless act that legitimized Arab participation in a US-led regional missile defense system that helped protect Israel, and it also prompted Israel to launch retaliatory attacks that exposed major weaknesses in Iranian defenses.”
The report considered that “there is a rare moment in the Middle East, where opportunities exceed risks, and where American power and influence can achieve breakthroughs that seemed impossible in the past.”
The report indicated that “Trump exploited this new reality by pushing towards successfully reaching a ceasefire agreement in Gaza, through threats,” adding that “Trump now has the opportunity to establish a new regional order based on the rare commodity in the Middle East, which is peace.”
The report stated that “over the next four years, there is a possibility that Trump will achieve peace agreements with his Israeli partners on five fronts: with Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, other Arab and Islamic countries, and with the Palestinians,” adding that “this possibility is not an impossible dream.”
For Syria and Lebanon, the report said, “The first task is to strengthen the national foundations of their new governments, so that outside powers such as Iran or Turkey cannot impose their control from behind the scenes,” calling for “incentives for the new Sunni leadership to complete the expulsion of Russian forces from military bases overlooking the Mediterranean, and to welcome the Kurds, Druze, Christians and Alawites as full partners in a free, unified but decentralized Syria.”
“Despite the difficulties, the path to peace between Israel and both post-Assad Syria and post-Hezbollah Lebanon is not impossible,” he continued. “Washington must encourage gradual progress, including border demarcation and a monitoring agreement between Israel and Lebanon, and updating the disengagement agreement in the Golan Heights between Israel and Syria, before seeking to reach non-aggression agreements, before reaching the ultimate goal of full peace treaties.”
“All of this will be made easier if progress is made with Saudi Arabia, where trilateral defense and normalization agreements between the United States and Israel, negotiated during the Joe Biden administration, are waiting to be signed,” he said. “If that happens, the implications will be enormous, opening the door to a wider range of Arab and Muslim countries, from Saudi Arabia’s partners in the Gulf Cooperation Council to countries as far away as Indonesia and Mauritania, to strike deals with Israel, something Riyadh is seeking as proof of its decision to reconcile with the Jewish state.”
According to the report, “what encourages achieving this is, first, the sustainable calm in Gaza, and second, an Israeli commitment to a political process with the Palestinians that is set with a timetable, as demanded by Saudi Arabia, which represents a complex but necessary balance,” noting that “the most difficult aspect is convincing Netanyahu to invest in a political process that cannot be achieved without granting a fundamental role to the Palestinian Authority, which has been subject to much criticism.”
“This potential rose garden in the Middle East is still littered with mines,” the report noted. “Hamas could violate the ceasefire, leading to a resumption of war, while Lebanese politicians could fail to seize the opportunity to rebuild their state, paving the way for Hezbollah’s return to prominence. The new Syrian leadership could succumb to its jihadist roots, losing international support and sparking a civil war.”
In addition, the report said, “Saudi Arabia may demand more concessions on the Palestinian front than any Israeli leader would accept in a post-October 7 world, which would hinder this transformative agreement, while the extreme right within Israel, which fears for its grand dream of establishing a greater Israel, may spark a new wave of conflict in the West Bank.”
What is more dangerous, according to the report, is that Iran will compensate for its traditional military weakness by seeking to possess a nuclear weapon, which could upset the balance of peace and lead to a nuclear arms race in the region.
The report concluded by saying that “preventing these worst-case scenarios from happening will require skill, perseverance, and creativity, along with a great deal of maneuvering on the brink of the abyss, but on the general trajectory, such challenges remain much better than what the region faced 6 months ago.”
shafaq.com