Saudi Researcher Abdullah Bin Bijad Al-Otaibi: Saudi Arabia Should Sign A Peace Deal With Israel; The Arabs Are Tired Of The Palestinian Leadership's Ineptitude

Saudi researcher Abdullah Bin Bijad Al-Otaibi said in an October 2, 2020 interview on Al-Arabiya Network (Dubai/Saudi Arabia) that the best way to establish peace is by looking to the future, and that he believes Saudi Arabia should sign a peace treaty with Israel. He said that unlike previous peace deals between Arab countries and Israel, Israel's peace deals with the UAE and Bahrain is a genuine peace between the people and the governments. In addition, Al-Otaibi said that the Arabs have had enough of the Palestinian leadership's inability to create real solutions, so they have found the "magic formula" of making peace with Israel while defending the Palestinians' rights to their land, to Jerusalem, and to a state.

Abdullah Bin Bijad Al-Otaibi: "When peace agreements were signed in the past, like the Camp David Accords, the Oslo Accords, and the Wadi Araba Treaty with Jordan... These peace agreements were signed by the political regimes, but they did not trickle down to society. They were not embraced by the cultural elites, and they did not spread among the people.

"The regimes themselves did not embrace these agreements. The regimes took a political stance and signed [the peace agreements], for numerous reasons, Sadat looked forward to the future, because he was a great, historic president."

Host: "I mean, the concept of 'the Zionist enemy' remained. Israel remained 'the occupying country.'"

Al-Otabi: "It remained so in the general discourse of the cultural elites..."

Host: "...and in the collective mindset of society."

Al-Otabi: "Therefore, today things are changing. The peace agreement that the UAE and Bahrain signed will be a real peace..."

Host: "Between whom will the peace-making be conducted in the right way, in your view? Between which parties?"

Al-Otabi: "Between the UAE and Israel, between Bahrain and Israel, between Oman and Israel, between Sudan and Israel. The Arab countries and the Arab people have had enough of the impasse in the Palestinian issue and the inability of the Palestinian leaders to create real solutions, and therefore [the Arab countries] found the magic formula, based on a very simple principle – making peace with Israel, and defending Palestinian rights.

"We defend the Palestinians' rights. All the Arab people defend the Palestinians' rights – their right to their land, their right to Jerusalem, and their right to a state. But these two [concepts] are not mutually exclusive."

Host: "So personally you support Saudi Arabia taking this stance and signing a peace agreement with Israel?"

Al-Otabi: "Yes, I wish this would happen. That is my ideological approach."